News

The European Union, together with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), has launched the Global Alliance on Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (GACERE). The Alliance is part of the Circular Economy Action Plan under the Green Deal and focuses on the transition to an efficient, clean, and circular economy to combat the environmental crisis.
More information is available here.

The European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) estimates that around 40% of the EU's 10 million agricultural workers, around 4 million, suffer from exploitation, illegal employment, and precarious working conditions. EU Member States have their own legislation aimed at minimizing these practices, but as part of negotiations on the shape of the new Common Agricultural Policy, there is now increasing pressure to make part of CAP payments conditional on compliance with so-called social conditionality rules. This is a key aspect of the future CAP for the European Parliament's second largest political group S&D, according to German MEP Marie Noichl (S&D), failure to include social conditionality in the final text could lead to the whole S&D political group rejecting final approval of the CAP in the EP plenary. According to the S&D, compliance with the rules on social conditionality should be subject to inspections on farms, and in the event of non-compliance, farmers would have to repay part of the subsidies provided to them from the CAP. According to the S&D, working conditions could also be included in the list of specific objectives of the CAP and would therefore also have to be included in the national strategic plans of the CAP. Portugal also supports social conditionality, but within the Council, opposition to the introduction of new additional conditionality in the CAP is growing. Austria, together with CZ, SK, BE, BG, HR, CY, FI, GR, HU, LV, MT, and RO, has drawn up its own opinion stating that any form of additional cross-compliance would significantly increase the administrative burden, especially in control and sanction system. As a solution, these thirteen countries propose to strengthen the role of agricultural advisory services so that these services can provide all necessary information to farmers and agricultural workers. The functionality of this measure should be evaluated by the Commission three years after implementation. The largest European agricultural organization, Copa & Cogeca, also opposes the proposal to introduce social conditionality, supporting the implementation of national rules at national level rather than a European solution.
More information is available here and here.

On 25/02/2021, the Greens' political faction in the European Parliament published a new report on fraud, corruption, and the misuse of CAP funds. The report focuses on the situation in five EU Member States - BG, CZ, HU, RO, and SK. At the end of the report, the Greens propose several recommendations for the European Commission. Recommendations include gathering information on the final beneficiaries of CAP subsidies, but also on the purposes for which the funds are subsequently used; ensuring thorough audits and controls on the management of subsidies at national and EU level; ensuring the independence of the paying agencies in the Member States; or ensuring the implementation of appropriate legislation (Article 61) to avoid conflicts of interest.
More information is available here and here.

On 25/02/2021, the European Commission published the results of an evaluation study on the CAP’s impact on knowledge exchange and advisory activities. The CAP is an overall effective means of exchanging knowledge and advice in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in rural areas. The shortcomings are in the form of low uptake of measures (only 10% of European farms and 20% of CAP beneficiaries), the implementation of measures is not harmonized across Member States.
More information is available here.

On 24/02/2021, the Commission launched feedback on the labelling provisions for spirit drinks. The initiative aims to clarify the labelling of mixtures of spirit drinks from different geographical indications. The consultation is open until 24/03/2021, available here.