France's Le Pen opposes Ukraine EU membership over farming fears

French far-right politician Marine Le Pen spoke against EU membership for Ukraine on Oct. 7 by whipping up fears that Kyiv's agricultural sector would destroy France's.

Le Pen is leading the polls for France's April 2027 presidential election, and her stance on Ukraine and Russia has already become a key campaign issue for her and her competitors.

"If Ukraine were to enter the European Union, we would be the first to suffer," Le Pen claimed in a video posted to social media.

"We would be the losers, not only in terms of competition with a large agricultural country like Ukraine, but also in the sharing out of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (subsidies), because the CAP is a shrinking cake," Le Pen said.

The CAP is an EU program established in 1962 that subsidizes the EU's farming sector, allowing small and uncompetitive farms to continue to exist.

It is also at risk of being reduced already, as Brussels haggles over the bloc's 2028-2034 budget. The fear is that adding a large agricultural country such as Ukraine would exacerbate that situation further.

Le Pen's comments came one day after the European Commission published a communication on the future of enlargement, which noted that the bloc needs to seriously address how to integrate Ukraine's farming sector into the EU smoothly.

Ukraine "will and can become a member of the CAP. Under which conditions, this will be discussed," said the EU's Enlargement Commissioner, Marta Kos, at a press conference on Oct. 6.

"We also have to protect the farmers in the EU, and we are already discussing this subject with Ukraine," Kos added.

Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi said, "We understand the sensitivity of certain segments for European farmers," in written comments shared with the Kyiv Independent.

However, he thinks there are also many opportunities for the EU that come with bringing in Ukraine's farming sector, even for European farmers.

"We do not share the approach under which Ukraine's integration is viewed exclusively as a threat to European farmers," Vysotskyi said.

And Kyiv's lobby for agriculture in Brussels, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), said that while it understands the concerns of European farmers, it is "increasingly concerned by an excessively protectionist approach towards the integration of Ukrainian agriculture," in an Oct. 7 press statement.

For UCAB, part of the answer lies in communication.

"UCAB has consistently advocated an open and structured dialogue with European farmers, EU institutions, and member states to jointly develop a model for the future enlarged European agricultural market."