News

Claire Bury, Deputy Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), confirmed last week that the Commission does not plan to carry out an overall cumulative impact assessment on the implementation of the Farm to Fork objectives. However, she also confirmed the Commission's interest in carrying out impact assessments on individual objectives, presented in the form of legislative proposals, on an individual basis. Impact assessments should be carried out, for example, for the reduction of pesticides, or for the labelling of food nutrition and animal welfare.
More information is available here.

The EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) and the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) will have shared competences for an opinion on Farm to Fork, like the opinion on CAP reform. Both Committees prepared their own opinions on the CAP separately. In the case of Farm to Fork, however, the EP has decided on a different approach - two opinions will not be drawn up, one for each of the Committees, but only one common position. Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, IT), on behalf of COMAGRI, and Anja Hazekamp (GUE / NGL, NL), on behalf of COMENVI, are now working on this work. According to Dorfmann, the opinion could be finalized in early 2021. Members of both Committees will then be allowed to table amendments. Dorfmann emphasized the need for a rational approach, realistic goals, and impact assessments. According to him, the strategy is mainly focused on the goals set for farmers, not consumers. Anja Hazekamp emphasizes the issue of animal welfare and intensive livestock production - she rejects long transports of live animals, calls for support for the production and consumption of plant proteins, refuses further support for intensive agriculture, especially intensive livestock production. According to her, the animal welfare rules must be revised earlier than planned by the European Commission (2023).

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) could broaden its focus by extending its powers to fully support the ambitions of the European Green Deal to protect and improve the environment. EFSA Director Bernhard Url said that EFSA should play a greater role in the preparation and implementation of the Farm to Fork Strategy, saying that risk assessment alone could only be one of EFSA's activities. Using the example of glyphosate, Url illustrated what an enhanced role for EFSA could look like - there is currently no comprehensive assessment of the impact of a possible ban on glyphosate on the agri-food sector, impact on biodiversity, drinking water quality, farmers' incomes, food production costs. Strengthening EFSA's role would thus allow a broader study of the impact of sustainable policies in the real world and provide European politicians with a more comprehensive analysis of forthcoming policies.

The European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) voted on 28/10/2020 on an objection to the European Commission's proposal to restrict the use of lead ammunition near wetlands. Many Member States, except for Ireland, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia, already regulate the use of lead ammunition near wetlands, but the Commission has been working to harmonize the rules since 2015. The Commission's aim is to focus on the widespread use of lead ammunition, and the Commission is still working on proposals for widespread regulation. The proposal for restrictions around wetlands was developed as a matter of priority, considering the sensitivity of the given ecosystems. In the proposal, the European Commission allows states where wetlands cover at least a fifth of the state's area a longer transition period for the transition to lead-free ammunition (three years instead of two). The Commission has also proposed reducing the area around wetlands where lead-core ammunition should not be used from 300 meters to 100 meters. However, MEPs Alexander Bernhuber (EPP, AT), Ondřej Knotek (Renew, CZ), and Andrey Slabakov (ECR, BG) objected to the Commission's proposal. MEPs called for the Commission's proposal to be rejected and for a new one to be tabled. According to MEPs, the Commission's proposal goes beyond what is necessary and proportionate to address the environmental risks arising from the use of lead ammunition in or around wetlands and therefore does not respect the principle of proportionality. However, the COMENVI Committee rejected the objection by a vote of 33 in favour and 42 against. However, the objection may be re-tabled directly to the plenary of the European Parliament.
More information is available here and here (page 8).

Last week, the EURACTIV media network organized a webinar focused on livestock production and Farm to Fork Strategy, specifically on the role of the poultry sector. During the webinar, AVEC's poultry producers' representatives called on the European Commission to consider a Europe-wide food origin labelling scheme to help support the European poultry sector. AVEC representatives supported the introduction of the "EU" and "non-EU" labels, in the case of non-European production, the labels request information on a specific country of origin.
More information is available here.