European Policy Makers Research Articles

Transferable Exclusivity Vouchers and Incentives for Antimicrobial Development in the European Union.

The European Commission's proposal to address antimicrobial resistance using transferable exclusivity vouchers (TEVs) is fundamentally flawed. European policymakers and regulators should consider alternatives, such as better funding for basic and clinical research, use of advance market commitments funded by a pay-or-play tax, or enacting an EU Fund for Antibiotic Development.

An energy union without interconnections? Public acceptance of cross-border interconnectors in four European countries

Despite the importance of achieving a functioning and decarbonised European Energy Union (EnU) research addressing the public acceptance of cross-border energy interconnections at a European-wide level based upon public opinion polls is limited. To try to fill this gap in the literature, this article relies on a poll with 4000 respondents from the four big EU energy markets: France, Germany, Italy and Spain, including as a new explanatory variable their proximity to an electrical cross-border substation. Overall, 57,4% respondents have not heard about energy interconnections, and 69,2% have not ever heard about the internal energy market. Approaching public acceptance from a procedural justice framework, the article considers procedural justice as a pre-condition? For a fair policy-making process. By addressing the public acceptance of cross-border energy interconnections, the article aims to contribute to the existing literature on their linkages of said interconnections with the European energy policy-making process, deriving specific policy implications to foster cross-border interconnections and energy integration within the EnU.

Food inflation and geopolitical risks: analyzing European regions amid the Russia-Ukraine war

PurposeThe study's objective is to measure the response of the food prices to the aggregate and disaggregate geopolitical risk events, Russia's geopolitical risks and global energy prices in the context of two European regions, i.e. Eastern and Western Europe covering the monthly data from January 2001 to March 2022.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply a novel and sophisticated econometric method, the cross-quantilogram (CQ) approach, to analyse the authors’ monthly data properties. This method detects the causal relationship between the variables under the bi-variate modelling approach. More importantly, the CQ procedure divulges the bearish and bullish states of the causal association between the variables under short, medium and long memories.FindingsThe authors find that aggregate measures of geopolitical risk reduce food prices in the short term in the Eastern Europe but increases food prices in the Western Europe. Besides, the decomposed measures of geopolitical risk “threats” and “acts” have heterogeneous effects on the food prices. More importantly, Russia's geopolitical risk events and global energy prices enhance the food inflation under long memory.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors provide diverse policy implications for Eastern and Western Europe based on the authors’ findings. First, the European policymakers should take concrete and joint policy measures to tackle the detrimental effects of geopolitical risks to bring stability to the food markets. Second, this region should emphasize utilizing their unused agricultural lands to grow more crops to avoid external dependence on food. Third, the European Union and its partners should begin global initiatives to help smallholder farmers because of their contribution to the resilience of disadvantaged, predominantly rural communities. Fourth, geopolitically affected European countries like Ukraine should deal with a crippled supply chain to safeguard their production infrastructure. Fifth, fuel (oil) scarcity in the European region due to the Russia-Ukraine war should be mitigated by searching for alternative sources (countries) for smooth food transportation for trade. Finally, as Europe and its Allies impose new sanctions in response to the Russia-Ukraine war, it can have immediate and long-run disastrous consequences on the European and the global total food systems. In this case, all European blocks mandate cultivating stratagems to safeguard food security and evade a long-run cataclysm with multitudinous geopolitical magnitudes for European countries and the rest of the world.Originality/valueThis is the maiden study that considers the aggregated and disaggregated measures of the geopolitical risk events, Russia's geopolitical risks and global energy prices and delves into these dynamics' effects on food prices. Notably, linking the context of the Russia-Ukraine war is a significant value addition to the existing piece of food literature.

Is rare cancer care organized at national health system level? Multiple case study in six EU countries.

As a system of European Reference Networks (ERNs) emerges, the differences in quality of care for patients with rare cancers may increase at national level. We aimed to elucidate the processes and healthcare planning principles through which the reference centres (RCs) for rare cancers are embedded in national health systems. We used a multiple case-study design based on the experiences of Czechia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania and Spain. Using sarcoma as an example of rare cancer, 52 semi-structured interviews were conducted during on-site visits, including a multidisciplinary group of professionals, Ministry of Health professionals, patient representatives and European policymakers. The comparative analysis showed substantial heterogeneity in the processes for formalizing RCs' status and in their levels of integration in the different health systems, but two models (centre-based and the network-based) can be envisaged at national level. RCs for rare cancers were legally established only in France and Spain. Expert clinicians cooperate in a structured way, using network mechanisms, in France and Italy, and these countries, plus Finland and Lithuania, had a referral system to facilitate patients' access from non-expert centres to RCs. Seven key healthcare planning principles in instituting RCs at the national level were identified. The conditions governing patient access to treatment centres-whether RCs or not-are decided at the national level. It is advisable to progressively align the European and national levels so that the RCs that participate in the ERNs also play a significant role at the national level.

2.A. Round table: From Ebola to COVID-19: lessons learned from health systems strengthening efforts and system shocks

Abstract Five years after the devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the health systems in Guinea and Sierra Leone are facing a new shock with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the Ebola outbreak, countries of the European Union including Germany played a major role in responding to Ebola in these countries and in strengthening their health systems. Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone received 115 million Euros combined, in terms of development assistance for health dedicated to health system strengthening and sector wide approaches. For these countries that are now facing the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation is ideal to assess how well health systems have absorbed the current pandemic, and reflect on the effectiveness of health system strengthening interventions received. The objectives of the workshop are two-fold: 1, to illustrate the extent to which health systems in Guinea and Sierra Leone were able to absorb the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic whilst continuing the ongoing delivery of essential health services; 2, to provide German and European policy makers with evidence relating to the effectiveness of investments that have been made over the last half-decade in strengthening health systems following the 2014 Ebola outbreak. To achieve this, three 10-minute presentations will be made followed by a 30-minute moderated discussion between the speakers and with the audience. In the first presentation, Dr Charbel El-Bcheraoui will provide insight into the scope and scale of health system strengthening interventions that were implemented in Guinea and Sierra Leone after the Ebola outbreak, and will describe a research project that was carried out to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health systems in these two countries. In the second and third presentations, Prof Alexandre Delamou and Dr Abdul Mbawah evidence will be shared from Guinea and Sierra Leone respectively on the impact of COVID-19 on the health systems. Malaria will be used as a case study as is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both countries and it is a multifaceted disease that requires interventions through the whole spectrum of the health system, ranging from public health prevention activities like vector control, to delivery of treatment through health care services. Together, the three presentations will provide insights into the effectiveness of interventions implemented in the two West African countries to strengthen the capacity of the health systems to respond to new health emergencies. The subsequent 30-minute discussion will be chaired by Prof Johanna Hanefeld, Head of the Center for International Health Protection, Robert Koch Institute, Germany. It will focus on highlighting key issues that have been identified in the three presentations and on discussing specific recommendations that can be derived to improve health systems strengthening. Key messages • Understanding how health systems responded to the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates what is needed now to make them more resilient to future shocks. • Learning from what was done to strengthen health systems in past outbreaks will improve the effectiveness of future health system strengthening interventions. Speakers/Panellists Charbel El Bcheraoui Robert Koch Institute, berlin, Germany Alexandre Delamou University Gamal Abdel Nasser, Conakry, Guinea Abdul Mbawah COMAHS University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone

Foresight for policy – addressing the challenges for policy impact

Abstract Background The role of policymaking is to create the future that we want. In its communication on Better Regulation, the European Commission recognises the need for strategic foresight to play a key role in helping to ‘future-proof’ EU policymaking. The aim is to ensure that decisions are grounded in a longer-term perspective. In times of rapid change, EU policymaking needs to have impact assessments, fitness checks and major regulatory evaluations informed by foresight. Strategic foresight is also a powerful way to engage with stakeholders and not only capture their perspectives, but also generate collective intelligence in the areas of policy interest. Lessons from EU policy making This fits within a broader effort at the Commission to be at the forefront of excellence in policymaking in Europe and worldwide. This is why the EU Policymaking Hub was launched 2020. It offers a platform for policymakers to learn, collaborate and share knowledge in EU policymaking, introducing new capacity building offers. It aims at strengthening the Commission's policymaking capacity through anticipating, developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating policies in an evidence-informed, transparent, and collaborative way with stakeholders, citizens and experts. Providing the policymaking community with a framework for long-term competence development will strengthen the profession, make it fit for the future, contribute to colleagues’ motivation and help the Commission to achieve its goals. Conclusions Being futures literate covers a range of skills from anticipation to the ability to run in-depth foresight processes. It spans a range of abilities from having an anticipatory mindset to scanning for change, understanding change and being able to influence change. Since its inception, this competence framework is at the base of an effort to train European civil servants in foresight and to increase foresight literacy for application in policymaking.

The Impossibility of Neutrality? How Courts Engage with the Neutrality Argument

Abstract The principle of state neutrality vis-à-vis religion and belief is contested and illusive. Some scholars even label it an impossible principle. Nevertheless, the meanings and functions assigned to neutrality are often determinative of, among others, the scope of the right to manifest one’s religion in public institutions. Focusing on recent developments in Europe, this article makes two claims: one conceptual and the other doctrinal. The conceptual claim is that neutrality can be deployed either as a shield to protect freedom of religion and belief or as a sword to strike religious claims down. Given that lawmakers and policymakers in Europe are increasingly relying on the second function of neutrality, the article goes on to evaluate how the courts have responded. The doctrinal claim of the article is that courts can engage—and have engaged—with the neutrality argument in three ways: (i) through deference to other interpreters of neutrality; (ii) through substantive interpretation of the neutrality principle; and (iii) through circumvention of the neutrality argument. The article suggests that the third approach may well be preferable.

Military Culture and Institutional Trust: Evidence from Conscription Reforms in Europe

AbstractDoes military conscription reduce the distance between the ordinary citizen and the state? Decades after its abolition, numerous European policy makers from across the political spectrum advocate the reintroduction of conscription to foster civic virtues, despite a lack of empirical evidence in this respect. Leveraging quasi‐random variation in conscription reforms across 15 European countries, we find that cohorts of men drafted just before its abolition display significantly and substantially lower institutional trust than cohorts of men who were just exempted. At the same time, ending conscription had no effect on institutional trust among women from comparable cohorts. Results are neither driven by more favorable attitudes toward the government, nor by educational choices. Instead, this civil–military gap unfolds through the formation of a homogeneous community with uniform values. We argue that reintroducing a compulsory military service may not produce the effects anticipated by its advocates.

Living Labs and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Symbioses Propelling Sustainable Innovation

Until recently, it had not been certain to what extent the integration of SMEs in Living Labs, as a special form of open innovation ecosystems, actually leads to successful commercialization of (sustainable) products and/or services. Today, while the effectiveness of publicly funded innovation projects is increasingly being debated, especially by European policymakers, who once hoped to solve the European paradox through this type of public-private-people partnership, this article can prove that in parts of the innovation process—and this includes, in particular, the sustainable innovation output—an increase in innovation performance on the site of the SMEs can be detected. Based on the concept of program evaluation, the effects on SMEs’ innovation are determined with a preliminary qualitative study. The impact of Living Lab projects on innovation output, activities, capabilities, and knowledge flows of 12 European SMEs are then empirically tested in a quantitative study. Significant effects on the innovation performance of SMEs resulting from participation in Living Labs are identified. According to this study, Living Lab projects mainly influence the sustainable innovation output and knowledge flows of SMEs.

A multi reference point based index to assess and monitor European water policies from a sustainability approach

The scarcity of water resources is a serious problem that concerns governments and international institutions. The importance of water resources and the expectations of billions of people with serious water shortages and subsequent food shortages have made European water policy makers focus all their attention on the sustainability of water as a resource. In this paper we propose a new Water Sustainability Indicator based on a Multi-Reference methodology (WSI-MR) which permits modeling compensation between the analyzed criteria and provides a participative approach. The WSI-MR provides results based on 19 variables grouped into 5 dimensions: availability, access, resilience, good governance and economic capacity. The indicator was applied to assess water sustainability in 27 European countries. The results showed that Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom obtained the best global results in terms of weak water (compensatory) sustainability. Using a non-compensatory approach, no country gained acceptable results in terms of strong sustainability. Some subdimensions related to climate change and the state of freshwater resources were detected as especially vulnerable in all the analyzed countries. Finally, the study identified some eastern European countries with low GDP and good performance of availability and cost of water, where bad results in terms of governance and water productivity could jeopardize water sustainability in the event of a potential economic development, if these limitations are not addressed. In a context of economic and political instability, due to the current armed conflict in nearby countries such as Ukraine, it is especially important to pay attention to these countries, whose good governance indicators could worsen even more. The proposed indicator is useful to identify warning signs and can contribute to the improvement in decision-making processes and to monitoring international water policies.

Liability Rules for AI-Related Harm: Law and Economics Lessons for a European Approach

AbstractThe potential of artificial intelligence (AI) has grown exponentially in recent years, which not only generates value but also creates risks. AI systems are characterised by their complexity, opacity and autonomy in operation. Now and in the foreseeable future, AI systems will be operating in a manner that is not fully autonomous. This signifies that providing appropriate incentives to the human parties involved is still of great importance in reducing AI-related harm. Therefore, liability rules should be adapted in such a way to provide the relevant parties with incentives to efficiently reduce the social costs of potential accidents. Relying on a law and economics approach, we address the theoretical question of what kind of liability rules should be applied to different parties along the value chain related to AI. In addition, we critically analyse the ongoing policy debates in the European Union, discussing the risk that European policymakers will fail to determine efficient liability rules with regard to different stakeholders.

Governing artificial intelligence in China and the European Union: Comparing aims and promoting ethical outcomes

In this article, we compare the artificial intelligence strategies of China and the European Union, assessing the key similarities and differences regarding what the high-level aims of each governance strategy are, how the development and use of AI is promoted in the public and private sectors, and whom these policies are meant to benefit. We characterize China’s strategy by its primary focus on fostering innovation and a more recent emphasis on “common prosperity,” and the EU’s on promoting ethical outcomes through protecting fundamental rights. Building on this comparative analysis, we consider the areas where the EU and China could learn from and improve upon each other’s approaches to AI governance to promote more ethical outcomes. We outline policy recommendations for both European and Chinese policymakers that would support them in achieving this aim.

The rift between executive contraction and executive detraction: the case of European Commission battery policy-making

ABSTRACT Providing policy solutions to solve across border societal challenges in Europe, such as electrifying the transport sector by facilitating a European battery industry, call for increased coordination among policy-makers. This article offers a novel study of the formulation of the European Commission’s (Commission’s) battery regulation proposal. In doing so, the paper makes two distinct contributions to extant literature: Theoretically, it outlines two conceptual models of executive governance – that of the Commission as a contracted and a detracted institution – and offers an institutional-organizational approach to account for conditions under which each of these models is likely to unfold. Empirically, the paper offers a case study of the process of drafting the Commission’s battery regulation proposal. Benefiting from semi-structured interviews, the study reveals patterns of executive contraction and detraction in the Commission. Whereas extant literature picture the Commission as an increasingly centralized and contracted executive institution, this study finds that executive contraction and detraction tend to co-evolve and co-exist.

Why and How Does the EU Rule Global Digital Policy: an Empirical Analysis of EU Regulatory Influence in Data Protection Laws

Why is the EU capable of regulating the digital environment and how is it able to exert regulatory influence outside its boundaries? This article aims to answer the question by focusing on data protection laws and analysing empirical evidence gathered through interviews with government officials, data protection enforcers, experts, and activists from third countries, as well as industry stakeholders, EU policymakers, national regulators, and academics. Starting from the so-called Brussels effect to provide a comprehensive theoretical framework of EU regulatory influence, it is possible to disentangle the structural pressures that enable EU regulatory influence in foreign jurisdictions and the mechanisms through which it works. As European policymakers appear increasingly keen on setting global standards in new areas of the digital domain, this article provides insight into why and how the EU has been able to exert global influence via its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Empirical evidence collected in this study points to three main drivers of the GDPR’s global success: the EU’s internal market appeal, its credibility as a regulator and enforcer, and the timing of its regulatory actions in line with evolving policy needs. This has enabled the EU to exert regulatory influence in a unilateral and indirect way—via market forces or independent import by third states—as well as in a more direct way—via adequacy decisions. The role of Member States and multilateralism appears to be limited.

Into the unknown: Empirical UBI trials as social Europe’s risk insurance

In this article, we conduct a case study of EU-level debates on universal basic income (UBI) trials, as part of which we examine core contributions in the Conference on the Future of Europe, the election manifestos produced by European party groups, as well as European Parliament debates since 2009. The results indicate that parties and politicians are far more hesitant than citizens to demand UBI, while also relying proportionally more on proposing trials rather than policies. Interpreting the results, we develop a conceptual framework designed to better understand how political decisionmakers at the EU level can deal with the uncertainties involved in European social policymaking. We argue that these actors face legal, political, and suitability risks when proposing policies that would integrate the EU’s social dimension. Unlike in national settings, the potential to pursue various strategies of risk reduction is limited at the EU level. However, we argue that empirical trials of social policies are particularly well-suited to insuring politicians at the EU level against risks. This insurance function is based not only on the scope of empirical trials to reduce uncertainties about policy outcomes, but also on the fact that they are inherently non-binding. By simply proposing empirical trials, actors can influence agendas, benefit from public demands, or reduce public pressure without having to take on the risks associated with implementing a fully-fledged policy proposal. We conclude that empirical trials can be understood as buffers against risks that might be used strategically by politicians, and which have the potential to break stalemates in the future development of a “Social Europe”.

Contested gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament: political groups and committees as gatekeepers

This article analyses the implementation of gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament and aims at deciphering the role of its committees and political groups in advancing or hindering the integration of gender perspectives. The article engages with feminist institutionalism and micro-political approaches, and is based on interview and documentary data. It examines how formal and informal institutions and micro-political strategies within committees and political groups affect the abilities of this representative European Union institution to ensure a gender perspective is present in European Union policies. We suggest that although the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (the gender-focused parliamentary body) oversees gender mainstreaming, committees and political groups, as the core actors of European Parliament policymaking, are the gatekeepers that determine the outcomes. Our findings advance understandings of the limits of gender mainstreaming in European Union policymaking and shed light on the specific challenges of gender mainstreaming and broader gender equality change in parliaments.

S08-2 Reproducibility and validity of four physical activity questionnaires in 18 European union member states: the European Union Physical Activity and Sport Monitoring System (EUPASMOS) project

BackgroundThe successful promotion of health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) requires reliable and valid prevalence data of physical activity (PA) to enable the design, implementation and evaluation of effective and cost-effective policies. As part of the development of a new integrated monitoring framework in Europe, the reliability and validity of the Eurobarometer, European Health Interview Survey (EHIS), International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) were studied in the ongoing European Union Physical Activity and Sport Monitoring System project (EUPASMOS) among 18 European Union member states.MethodsPhysical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) were assessed among 80-100 adults per member state using the four questionnaires and the UKK RM42 accelerometer. Participants completed the questionnaires in random order and wore the accelerometer seven consecutive days on their right hip (during the day) and on their non-dominant wrist (overnight). Time spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), sedentary behavior and adherence to the WHO PA guidelines were calculated based on the 5 methods. The reproducibility and validity of the four questionnaires were tested by using the Spearman's correlation coefficient (ρ) or Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ), dependent of the outcome measure.ResultsPreliminary results from the Netherlands (N = 91) showed that the correlations for reproducibility of all four questionnaires varied between 0.51 and 0.63 for MVPA, between 0.30 and 0.60 for the WHO PA guidelines and between 0.65 and 0.82 for SB. All correlations were statically significant (p > 0.05). Significant correlations for validity of the questionnaires were found for MVPA (ρ = 0.22-0.43) and the WHO PA guidelines (ρ = 0.19-0.25). The only exception was the association between the EHIS questionnaire and the WHO PA guidelines. For SB, only GPAQ and the EHIS questionnaire showed significant associations (ρ = 0.31-0.32).ConclusionsFirst analyses of the Dutch data within the EUPASMOS project showed that the four commonly used questionnaires in Europe are fairly to strongly reliable methods depending on the outcome measure. The four questionnaires are fairly valid methods, except the Eurobarometer and IPAQ when examining SB. It is of interest to examine the quality of these questionnaires in all 18 member states for national and European policy makers.

Uncovering the Effect of European Policy-Making Initiatives in Addressing Nutrition-Related Issues: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis on Front-of-Pack Labels.

The last decades have been marked by the introduction of front-of-pack labels (FoPL) as an institutional corrective action against obesity and nutrition-related illnesses. However, FoPL-related policy-making initiatives issued by the European Union evolved over time and led to a diversity of labels with different effects on consumers’ decisions. As a result, the extant literature adapted to the regulative scenario over the years and investigated the effects of the labels, creating consensus on some topics while being fragmented on others. Similarly, policy-makers adapted some regulations to the evidence supported by the research. With the aim to systematize the overall structure and evolution of the literature on FoPL, investigate the presence of a consensus on specific topics through a co-citation analysis, and examine the evolution of the consensus and co-citation networks over the years and potential research gaps, we report the results of bibliometric and co-citation analyses and a systematic literature review involving 170 papers and a selection of 49 articles published in the last months, for a total of 219 articles, analysed according to three timespans (Period 1 (1989–2011); Period 2 (2012–2016) and Period 3 (2017–2022)). Our findings highlight the interplay of policy development and FoPL research, the presence of few self-reinforcing and well-established co-citation networks based on validated evidence in the literature and the presence of alternative emerging theories that offer different and valid perspectives overlooked by mainstream co-citation research networks.

European Union's policymaking on sustainable waste management and circularity in agroecosystems: The potential for innovative interactions between science and decision-making

The European Economic Community (EEC) and later the European Union (EU) have issued policies on waste during the last 50 years. This paper aims at analyzing EEC and EU's policymaking on waste management and circularity in agroecosystems as compared with other sectors of waste management (e.g., municipal, industrial, construction waste, etc.). Even if founded on the same general principles, and especially the precautionary principle, policymaking on waste and by-product management in agroecosystems differs from waste management in other sectors. In particular, agricultural waste management has been excluded from the European Waste Framework Directive, from its start in 1975 to this day. The issue of waste and by-products in agroecosystems has been addressed in multiple Directives and Regulations, historically aiming at reducing the potential negative impacts of residual organic matter application in agriculture. In the last decade, the swiftly growing interest for circular economy has triggered a breakthrough in traditional waste management, potentially affecting all economic sectors and enforcing systemic perspectives rather than more conventional “silo” approaches. Circularity in agroecosystems should thus become a major subject of EU's policymaking, but may suffer from its lack of a general framework, contrary to waste in other sectors. Moreover, agricultural valorization of urban residual organic streams may face several roadblocks in between differing legislations for agroecosystems and for “non-agricultural” systems. A systemic approach of the question of residual matter in agroecosystems, backing a strong policymaking framework for the sector, would be necessary in this context. Science-policymaking interactions are necessary to tackle these issues and should take innovative forms to address their complexity. Policy briefs, Policy Labs and the new European Commission Scientific Advice Mechanism represent existing innovative tools to take the topic of policymaking for sustainable waste management and circularity in agroecosystems forward.

Climate Change—Between “Myth and Truth” in Romanian Farmers’ Perception

The study analyzes the awareness of the effects of climate change on agriculture and the measures that should be implemented in this regard from the farmer’s perspective, taking into account the financial and promotional measures supported by the European Union for farmers. Thus, the study tracks the level of openness of farmers to implementing the measures that European policy makers will take in the coming period. Taking into account the fact that agriculture plays a particularly important economic role, due to the share of agricultural products in Romania’s total exports, particularly in plant production, a quantitative survey was carried out among Romanian farmers, using a questionnaire as an instrument, with a total of 407 respondents. The farmers interviewed undoubtedly recognize that the problems they face are caused by the effects of climate change and are willing to adapt, seek and implement the necessary solutions. The most problematic climatic phenomenon identified by farmers (71.5%) is drought, with negative effects on their activity. At the same time, 54.15% of the respondents believe that the effects of climate change are affecting their business through lower yields. Although the farmers interviewed are willing to implement solutions to combat climate effects, 80.34% of them are not considering revising cropping patterns, giving more importance to market demand than to practices that protect the environment. In conclusion, as long as farmers feel and understand the effects of climate change, it cannot be a myth, especially if they are willing to adapt to these challenges.