Union Fleurs highly appreciates the active participation of the many members of the European Parliament who yesterday called on the European Commission to help the EU's live flowers and plants sector in a more effective and impactful way.

On April 27, 50 members of the European Parliament (MEPs), from a large number of Member States and from various political groups, sent a joint letter to the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, asking for EU support the flower and living plant sector, which has been dramatically hit by the exceptional crisis stemming from COVID-19. MEPs urge the Commission to be more ambitious and pragmatic and to activate urgent and personalized financial support for the sector as soon as possible, going beyond the measures proposed last week that are not enough to keep the sector afloat.

"As members of the European Parliament, we consider it a duty of the European Commission not to abandon this highly interdependent and high-performing European sector and invest in it as soon as possible to offer it a life preserver," says the letter, recalling that the sector maintains 760,000 jobs across the EU and contributes annually to the EU economy with a total turnover of € 48 billion.

The list of signatory MEPs is led by Annie Schreijer-Pierik (NL, EPP), Juan Ignacio Zoido Alvarez (ES, EPP) and Anne Sander (FR, EPP) and includes many members of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture, in particular its President Norbert Lins (DE, PPE), but also a large number of prominent MEPs from across the political spectrum (S&D, ECR, RENEW Europe and ID political groups) and with a large European geographical coverage.

This exceptional mobilization and the call for support from such a large and representative group of MEPs reflect how much the dramatic situation in the live flower and plant sector attracts many people and, first of all, for elected representatives of citizens in the whole EU. The letter rightly recalls how live flowers and plants contribute positively to the quality of life for EU citizens and have enormous potential to be part of the solution to the overall ambitions of the EU Green Agreement by greening cities and counteract the effects of climate change.

UNION FLEURS - International Flower Trade Association is the umbrella organization for national associations and companies active in the flower trade. Union Fleurs' overall mission is to represent, promote and defend the interests of merchants and wholesalers in cut flowers, cut foliage and potted plants. Union Fleurs was founded in 1959 in Brussels and currently has members in 20 countries around the world. Among its members, Union Fleurs brings together more than 3,000 companies, of which more than 1,500 floriculture traders and wholesalers in the EU (Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium). Members represent more than 80% of the total value of world trade in cut flowers and potted plants.