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Last week, Pascal Canfin (Renew, FR), Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), criticized the Council's position in the ongoing negotiations on the CAP reform trialogue. According to Canfin, approving the Council's position would lead to so-called greenwashing, that is, in essence, a mere media bubble created to convince the public of a positive environmental policy direction, although the reality is quite different. According to him, the Council's positions on environmental measures, including the eco-schemes currently being discussed, are particularly problematic; according to Canfin, the Council's position is insufficiently ambitious.

Last week, the European Parliament's committees discussed the EU Biodiversity Strategy, Representatives of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) also took part in the discussion. Humberto Delgado Rosa, representing DG AGRI, said in response to MEPs' comments that implementing the objectives of the new strategies (for biodiversity and Farm to Fork) would not lead to a slump in agri-food production or jeopardize food security. According to Delgado Rosa, the European Commission set targets based on scientific evidence and its own assessment of the situation; The representative also emphasized that, for example, the exclusion of 10% of agricultural land from production would have a positive impact on soil quality and health, and thus, in the future, on the strengthening of agricultural production.

The United Nations World Conference on Biodiversity will take place in China on 17-30 / 05/2021, with the participation of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Von der Leyen said last week that the European Commission would try to reach a global agreement on biodiversity protection during the conference. According to her, global support for biodiversity will provide access to food, water, and energy for billions of people.
More information is available here.

On 13/01/2021, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published the first risk assessment of dried yellow mealworms (whole and ground) as novel foods, which were identified as safe for human consumption. The European Commission will therefore prepare a proposal for Member States to allow and market the product by mid-2021.
More information is available here and here.

The European Commission has published a study evaluating the impact of agricultural product promotion programs on the internal and foreign markets (here). Funding for product promotion has not been shown to undermine the achievement of environmental objectives. On the contrary, EU agri-food promotion policy is conducive to gaining access to new foreign markets, which helps to ensure stable jobs in EU rural areas.
More information is available here.