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On 06/10/2021, the European Commission adopted exceptional measures to support the wine, fruit, and vegetables sectors due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis and adverse weather conditions. According to the Commission, the new measures in the wine sector include "increasing support for risk management tools such as harvest insurance and mutual funds and extending the flexibility measures already in place until 15 October 2022". For the fruit and vegetables sector, the Commission then prepared compensation support to producer organisations - usually calculated based on the production value of the year - "so that it does not fall below 85% of last year's value".
More information is available here.

At the end of July, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) published a report assessing the potential impact of the implementation of selected Farm to Fork objectives on European agriculture in several possible scenarios. In its report, the JRC acknowledges that the implementation of the targets could not only lead to a fall in agricultural production in the EU of up to 15%, but that the volume of reduced CO2 emissions in the EU (by 20-30%) could also be due to increased production in third countries (from 40% to 60%) offset by increased CO2 production outside the EU. The timing of the report was criticized by European agricultural organizations, who considered the date of publication to be calculated, given the summer months and holidays. However, the European media has now published the finding that the European Commission had a report prepared as early as January 2021, and therefore waited more than 6 months with the publication. In addition, between January and the end of June 2021, intensive negotiations took place between Parliament, the Council, and the Commission on the future shape of the Common Agricultural Policy. Both Parliament and the Commission have been pushing for the inclusion of Farm to Fork objectives in the CAP Strategic Plans, and therefore for Member States to strengthen their environmental and climate ambitions in line with the European Green Deal. The European Commission has now been criticized by agricultural organizations for deliberately delaying the publication of the report's results for six months, with the aim of concealing the report's negative results before representatives of Parliament and the Member States during the CAP negotiations. Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, responded to the criticism on Twitter by saying that the January version of the report identified shortcomings that the Commission was trying to improve. However, during the process, the Commission concluded that this improvement would be too complicated and time consuming, so it was decided to submit the report without further delay at the end of July 2021. The coming week should be intensively focused on discussions on Farm to Fork and its impact on the agricultural sector, on 12/10/2021 and 13/10/2021, Copa and Cogeca will publish the results of their own impact study on European agriculture, and on 14-15 / 10/2021, the annual conference of the European Commission will take place with the participation of the Commissioners.
More information is available here.

The European Commission's Directorates-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI), for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) and for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (DG MARE) are preparing a contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security to be put in place in times of crisis. The request for the elaboration of the contingency plan resulted from the ongoing global coronavirus crisis, its final version should be submitted by the European Commission in November 2021. According to the draft version of the contingency plan, the Commission envisages the creation of a permanent forum for food security, which should respond flexibly to crisis situations. According to the Commission, it is not possible to prepare general tools and solutions in advance to address these issues during crises, so the Forum should help with coordination, cooperation, and the creation of tools in a flexible way. The Forum should bring together representatives of the Commission, Member States and some third countries, as well as stakeholders from all levels of the food supply chain. The Forum should be operational in the second quarter of 2022, meet at least once a year, and report annually once a year (for the first time at the end of 2022). In mid-2023, the Forum should make a set of recommendations to strengthen the diversity of supply sources between shorter and longer food chains, and by the end of 2023, current shortcomings and weaknesses in the food supply chain should be mapped. The Commission also plans to carry out a study on the role of information technology, including so-called "big data", to improve market transparency during the crisis, which should be completed in Q4 2024.

On 08/10/2021, Member States approved the European Commission's proposal to ban the use of titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive from 2022. Titanium dioxide is used as a colorant in several products such as chewing gum, pastries, food supplements and soups. The Commission proposal is based on the scientific opinion of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which concluded that E171 can no longer be considered safe when used as a food additive, especially given that genotoxicity concerns cannot be ruled out. If the Council or the European Parliament does not object by the end of the year, the text will enter into force at the beginning of 2022. This will start a six-month phase-out period, after which a total ban will enter into force.
More information is available here.

During the plenary vote on 06/10/2021, the European Parliament voted on the objection to the re-authorization of two active substances - chlorotoluron used to control weeds and difenoconazole used to control mushrooms. The European Parliament approved the objection, i.e., did not support the re-authorization of these two active substances, by a vote of 407 in favour, 256 against. According to MEPs, the Commission's decision to extend the approval periods of chlorotoluron and difenoconazole does not comply with the safety criteria set out in Regulation 1107/2009 and is not based on evidence that these substances can be used safely or that they are demonstrably necessary for food production in the EU.
More information is available here.