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Last week, German MEP Martin Häusling (Greens) criticized the European Commission for providing financial support of €3.6 million for an initiative to promote beef consumption through EU promotion programs. Häusling calls for an immediate end to campaign funding and recommends supporting only the promotion of quality, organic farming, and regional products. By contrast, the European fruit and vegetable sector described the level of financial support for the promotion of organic farming as too ambitious (almost 30% of the total €200 million package for the promotion of agricultural products), as organic production accounts for only 6-7% of European fruit and vegetable production.
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On 20/01/2021, chair of the EP Committee on Agriculture Norbert Lins called on Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to halt the implementation of EU-US retaliatory tariffs, which will have a negative impact on European agriculture. Shortly before President Donald Trump's resignation, the United States imposed additional tariffs on several sensitive EU products, including French wines, with effect from 12/01/2021, as part of an Airbus x Boeing grant dispute. Lins called on the Commission to negotiate a moratorium on sanctions with the administration of the newly elected US president. France will also negotiate a trade dispute with the United States.
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On 14/01/2021, the European Commission published a list of eco-schemes that could be included in the CAP national strategic plans. This is not an exhaustive list, but examples of acceptable regimes. According to the Commission, eco-schemes will have to cover initiatives in the fields of climate, the environment, animal welfare, and antimicrobial resistance; they should be defined based on needs and priorities identified at national or regional level. The ambition of eco-schemes must go beyond the mandatory requirements of the CAP, including enhanced conditionality, and must help meet the objectives of the European Green Deal. The main objectives of the Green Deal are repeated in the document - reducing 50% of pesticides, 20% of fertilizers, 50% of antibiotics, strengthening organic farming to 25% of total agricultural area, and expanding the area for high biodiversity areas to 10% of agricultural area. The new eco-schemes will have to contribute to the specific objectives of the CAP, in particular Objectives 4 (climate change mitigation and adaptation), 5 (natural resource management), 6 (protection of biodiversity and strengthening of ecosystem services), and No 9 (animal welfare).
Member States should submit their national strategic plans to the European Commission for approval by 01/01/2022, and the European Commission should either approve the plans or work with the Member States to adjust them within a maximum of 6 months.
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The European institutions are still negotiating in trialogues to set a new form for the Common Agricultural Policy; in the section devoted to the CAP strategic plans, the topic of green architecture, including the setting of eco-schemes, is still discussed. Member States should make it compulsory to set up eco-schemes, but farmers could use them on a voluntary basis. Farmers should then be rewarded for fulfilling eco-schemes, i.e., for strengthening environmental and climate ambitions beyond mandatory cross-compliance. However, the European institutions cannot yet agree on what share of the envelope for the first pillar of the CAP should be allocated to eco-schemes. The European Parliament is pushing for 30% (€ 58.1 billion), the Council for 20% (€ 38.9 billion), the European Commission does not have an official opinion, but unofficially favours a higher allocation of at least 30%. Portugal is currently preparing a draft compromise text for eco-schemes under its presidency; according to unofficial information, Portugal could propose an allocation of 25%. However, this amount is problematic for both the Council and Parliament - during the October (2020) debate, there was a lot of pressure in the Council to support an allocation of less than 20%, while there was a clear pressure in Parliament to support more than 30%. The next trialogue on the CAP Strategic Plans will take place on 22/01/2021.

Some MEPs from various political groups are working to introduce new trade measures into the current CAP reform package. The new measures should help prevent the import of goods that do not meet the health and environmental standards applicable to EU production. New measures could be introduced under the CMO Regulation if approved. According to MEPs, agri-food production should only be imported from those third countries that comply with EU production rules. Corrective action should also be taken in case of misdemeanours. The next trialogue on the CMO regulation will take place on 27/01/2021.