Brussels – Italy’s agricultural world shields around the industrial hemp supply chain and calls for urgent intervention by the European Parliament on the Meloni government’s measures that threaten its survival. A cross-party coalition, including the largest agricultural organizations on the national scene, has petitioned the EU Parliament to denounce the “serious violations of EU regulations.”
Confagricoltura, CIA, Copagri, CNA Agroalimentare, UNCI, Liberi Agricoltori, Altragricoltura, Associazione Florovivaisti Italiani. Then, there are the supply chain associations Canapa Sativa Italia, Federcanapa, Sardinia Cannabis, Assocanapa, Resilienza Italia Onlus, and Canapa delle Marche. EIHA, the European Industrial Hemp Association, and the French UPCBD have also joined the appeal. Together, they are asking the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee (PETI) to “verify the conformity of the Italian regulations” and to “call on the European Commission“—to which they had already addressed a letter last June—to assess their compatibility with EU law.
The petition points out that the amendment to the Security Decree, which effectively bans the production and trade of hemp inflorescences and derivatives, and the June 27 Ministerial Decree, which classifies CBD oral compositions among narcotic substances, “violate fundamental principles of EU law, in particular the free movement of goods,” and the jurisprudence of the EU Court of Justice, which in a November 2020 ruling “has already determined that CBD is not a narcotic substance.” Moreover, in a September 11 ruling, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court suspended the ministerial decree on CBD.
In a joint press release issued in parallel, the agricultural associations recall that they are talking about a sector that employs some 15 thousand people and generates an annual turnover of €500 million. Thousands of companies that “have legitimately invested in this sector, purchasing specific machinery, developing infrastructure, and entering into long-term contracts based on current laws” are at risk.
The petition delivered to the PETI Commission goes further, asking “to call on the Italian authorities to suspend the implementation of the challenged rules” and “promoting a dialogue between the Commission and Italy to resolve the violations.” The associations say they are ready, in extrema ratio, to retake the case to the European Court of Justice, “challenging the Italian government for the economic damage that would result from these regulations.”
The Italian hemp industry immediately found support in Cristina Guarda, a Green MEP and vice-chair of the Petitions Commission. “I have been fighting this battle for nine years in the Veneto Regional Council, and I will continue to do so now as an MEP, dialoguing with all members of the Petitions Commission to ensure that this complaint is addressed seriously and with intellectual, scientific, and political honesty,” the AVS MEP promised. Guarda also pointed the finger at the “moralistic and demonizing propaganda” of the governing coalition in Italy, emphasizing the “anxiolytic, pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective” properties of hemp with CBD.
Of the same opinion is Valentina Palmisano, a 5-Star Movement MEP and member of the Petitions Committee, who says that the petition is “one more message for our government to stop a wretched measure as soon as possible.” The 5-Star delegation had already presented a question to the European Commission in August. Now, the petition will have to be evaluated and declared admissible. At that point, the PETI Committee can, at its discretion, invite supply chain representatives for a debate in the plenary and possibly write to the EU executive to comment on the issue.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
