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The Presidents and Prime Ministers of the EU Member States will meet on the European Council meeting on 24-25/05/2021. The leaders will discuss, among other things, climate issues, in particular the European Climate Law, the wording of which has been agreed by the European institutions in recent weeks. The EU Climate Law confirms the legal binding nature of the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. Following the agreement of the European institutions, the Commission will prepare appropriate legislative proposals, so the Prime Ministers will discuss their own set of recommendations for the European Commission and its work on legislative proposals. COVID-19, strategic relations with Russia, and relations with the UK will also be discussed.
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The meeting of the Council of EU agriculture ministers will take place on 26-27 / 05/2021 in Brussels. The Council will discuss a package of measures of the CAP reform, ministers will hear information from the Commission on a study on the EU's ability to update existing legislation on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material, and on study on the status of new genomic techniques. At the same time, they will endorse the EU's priorities at the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and discuss an action plan for organic farming. The Commission will brief ministers on the state of play of EU-UK bilateral consultations on fishing opportunities for 2021 and on the state of play in WTO negotiations on fisheries support. The council will also discuss the Farm to Fork strategy. Finally, the EL delegation will inform on behalf of IT and FR about the need to support the agricultural sectors affected by the recent frosts. The Council will meet in parallel with the "jumbo" trilogue of the European institutions on the CAP, and the parallel Council and trilogue should help ensure a faster agreement on all three parts of the CAP reform package. The trilogue will take place on 25-27/05/2021.
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Last week, environmental activist Greta Thunberg talked with the Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans about the CAP reform. Greta Thunberg called on Timmermans to withdraw the proposals, which she said were still not in line with the requirements to strengthen ambitions in climate and environmental protection, and which did not have sufficient public support. Timmermans did not support the withdrawal of CAP proposals, although according to him they are far from ideal, but he does not have support for their withdrawal. Thunberg said she did not envisage the Timmermans withdrawing the proposals. Thunberg said she did not envisage the Timmermans withdrawing the proposals. According to Thunberg, the change will have to take place by changing the behaviour and requirements of society, it cannot depend on politicians who are influenced by lobbyists.
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Seven EU Member States (CZ, SK, HU, PL, BG, HR, RO) have prepared a joint declaration by agriculture ministers on the opportunities and challenges of agricultural holdings in light of the Farm to Fork strategy. The declaration was adopted on 21/04/2021, with the Member States stating that the strategy sets very ambitious goals and challenges for Member States, and that these goals are expected to be met in a very short time. According to the declaration, the responsibility for meeting the targets should be evenly distributed among all actors in the supply chain, and this responsibility should not represent an additional burden for producers, especially small and medium-sized ones. The Farm to Fork strategy was presented without any environmental, social, and economic impact assessment, and Member States therefore call on the Commission to carry out an appropriate impact assessment before the implementation phase of the related measures and initiatives begins. The impact assessment should be comprehensive, cover the entire agri-food chain, and address food security, sustainable development of the sector, and competitiveness. In addition, the position of farmers in the supply chain needs to be strengthened. The shorter the supply chains, the better the chances farmers will have of securing adequate incomes. The declaration will be discussed at the forthcoming Council of Ministers (26-27/05/2021), during which it could be supported by other EU Member States.
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In a written declaration of 20/05/2021, a group of 29 European agri-food non–governmental organizations, including Copa and Cogeca, called on the European Commission to properly assess the impact of the Farm to Fork strategy and to have a new debate based on concrete data and scientific evidence. One year after the presentation of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies, the Strategies still raise too many questions. The Group of Agricultural Organizations recognizes the need to integrate new measures into the food system to strengthen the sustainability of the sector while maintaining the highest standards of food quality and affordability. At the same time, however, it fears a negative impact on production capacity, competitiveness, imports and on consumer prices as well.
More information is available here.