Europe must strengthen support for its rice-producing regions and protect farmers from unfair international competition, EPP rapporteur Alberto Cirio stressed as members of the European Committee of the Regions’ Commission for Natural Resources (NAT) adopted a draft opinion on the future of the rice sector in Europe. The draft opinion, adopted during the NAT meeting in Castilla-La Mancha on 2 October, responds to the growing agronomic, economic and trade pressures facing the European rice sector. It calls for EU policies, including the Common Agricultural Policy and trade and environmental frameworks, to better support the resilience, sustainability and competitiveness of rice-producing regions.
Rice cultivation is a cornerstone of several regional and local economies, supporting tens of thousands of farms, cooperatives, rice mills, logistics operators and food-processing industries. Rice-growing areas also support biodiversity, contribute to water management and the conservation of wetland ecosystems, and form part of Europe’s environmental, cultural and landscape heritage.
Alberto Cirio (IT/EPP), President of the Piedmont Region and CoR rapporteur, said: “Europe’s rice sector is strategic for regional and local economies, food security and environmental resilience. The opinion calls for stronger investment in water management, innovation and sustainable farming, alongside fairer trade rules and safeguards against market disruption. Indeed, the EU must do more to protect producers from unfair competition, particularly from south-east Asia. European rice is not a commodity, but an excellence to be safeguarded in its varieties and characteristics: quality, environmentally friendly and produced with respect for workers’ dignity and rights. Unfair competition risks impoverishing European farmers and driving them into bankruptcy.”
The opinion proposes a series of measures to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of European rice production. These include greater investment in sustainable water management and irrigation infrastructure, continued financial support for research and innovation, maintaining coupled income support and dedicated measures for rice under the future Common Agricultural Policy, and better recognition of the ecosystem services provided by rice growers. It also calls for a permanent EU rice-market monitoring system and stronger trade safeguards, including a revision of import tariff mechanisms so that action can be taken before imports cause serious disruption to European producers.
The opinion also calls for mandatory and transparent country-of-origin labelling, stronger sanitary and phytosanitary controls on imported rice, continued EU investment in promoting European rice, and mirror clauses requiring equivalent environmental and fundamental social standards in EU trade agreements. Following its adoption by the NAT commission on 2 October, “The future of the rice sector in Europe: a common strategy” is scheduled for adoption at the European Committee of the Regions’ plenary session on 2–3 December 2026.