Cecafé promotes event in the European Union

The Council of Brazilian Coffee Exporters (Cecafé) will hold, on April 25th, in Brussels, Belgium, an event to present the “Socio-environmental Monitoring Platform Cafés do Brasil” to the bloc's political authorities. The initiative is part of a partnership with Brazil's Mission to the European Union, coordinated by the country's ambassador to the EU, Pedro Miguel Da Costa e Silva.

According to the general director of Cecafé, Marcos Matos, the objective is to present strategic data collected by this tool, developed by the entity in partnership with Serasa Experian, which attest to the compliance of Brazilian coffees with the EU Regulation for Deforestation-Free Products (EUDR , in English). Another focus is to align with the European Commission and competent authorities for supervision in each country the best way to present this information.

The event will feature a welcome from ambassador Pedro Miguel Da Costa e Silva, a presentation of the platform and its potential for spreading information, an open space for consideration by European coffee organizations, with whom Cecafé has been in contact since its inception. of the EUDR, and openness to questions from European authorities.

“After strengthening the relationship with local coffee leaders, who knew, understood and endorsed our monitoring platform as the most appropriate tool to prove the compliance of Brazilian coffees with the EUDR, as it is more complete, technological and modern, we responded to such guidance partners and opened a channel of dialogue with political authorities to highlight to them the reality of socioeconomic and environmental respect for Brazilian coffees”, says Matos.

New legislation

He reveals that he will also question the new legislation to representatives of the European Commission and authorities responsible for supervision in each country, requesting greater detailing of the rules, flexibility in the application of fines for a period of one to three years, so that less prepared countries can adapt to the rule, and recognition of Brazilian information systems.

According to Matos, this will also be an opportunity to discuss with the competent authorities about why coffees from Brazil are included in the EUDR given all the existing sustainability and the need to make the Regulation more flexible at this time.

“There are several risks related to the forms of implementation, which is why dialogue is important to make this regulation more flexible and postpone the application of fines, until countries supplying products to the European Union can consolidate traceability internally”, he comments.

Another point that will be addressed by Cecafé with European political authorities, aware that the EUDR will need to be re-discussed in two years, is respect for the laws of countries of origin, such as the Forest Code and constitutional rights related to land use in Brazil. .

“Our platform, through data integration, has many conditions to demonstrate that Brazilian coffee is not related to deforestation and, therefore, a technical analysis of its exclusion from the list of agricultural products included in the Regulation must be carried out”, he argues. .

Matos will also reinforce the issue of insignificant risk that he discussed with the European Union ambassador to Brazil, Marian Schuegraf, in a meeting held in Brasília (DF), on April 12th.

“The insignificant risk, as mentioned in the Law, is of fundamental relevance to the sector and, with the possibility of monitoring that Brazil has, such as the Cecafé-Serasa Experian platform, it will be possible to attest to the low risk of deforestation in Brazilian coffee, with concrete evidence, and enable future exclusion from the list of commodities regulated by the EUDR, when the law is re-discussed”, he points out.

Given the fragility of other tools presented to monitor agribusiness production in Brazil, such as the forest coverage map of the Joint Research Center (JRC), which has proven to have already generated false positives about deforestation in the national coffee belt, the director of Cecafé informs that will work to ensure that European authorities recognize the Cafés do Brasil Socio-Environmental Monitoring Platform as an official source of information and guarantee of compliance with the EUDR.

Full schedule

To strengthen the work to promote the sustainability of coffees in Brazil, Matos will also carry out an extensive agenda before and after the event with political authorities. This week, he met with Brazil's agricultural attachés and members of the European Food Forum (EFF), an independent, non-partisan, multi-stakeholder council led and governed by the elected MEPs of the European Parliament.

The EFF aims to promote open dialogue regarding sustainable food systems among policymakers, food supply chain actors, civil society organizations, research, academia and other public institutions.

This Monday, the 22nd, the general director of Cecafé meets with ambassador Pedro Miguel Da Costa e Silva and the entire diplomatic corps of the Brazilian Mission; tomorrow (23), he will participate in a meeting of the EUDR Multi-Actor Platform and, on Wednesday (24), in a dinner with the European Commission's commodities consultant, Hannelore Beerlandt, and the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation , Zoltan Agai.

After the event with European political authorities, on Friday, 26, Matos will go to the main building of the European Union, where he will visit all the bloc's commissions and the stakeholders who will be kept in their positions in each commission after the elections for Parliament European Championship, in June this year.

“Positions at lower levels have strategic importance, as, in the public sector, some people resist ideological lines and geopolitical scenarios. We will do in the European Union what we do in Brasília, that is, meet them personally, and we will count on the support of Hannelore, with whom we have a lot of freedom, who understood our request and is mapping the most important contacts there”, concludes Matos .