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Belgium will allow the use of neonicotinoids for sugar beet growing for 2021. The use of Bayer's Gaucho will be permitted, and the imidacloprid-containing substance may be used to coat sugar beet seeds. Belgium thus follows the decision of France, which has decided in recent weeks to grant an emergency authorization for the use of neonicotinoids in 2021 and 2022. However, Belgian farmers will only be able to use neonicotinoids for sugar beet if they do not grow flowering crops that attract pollinators for the next two years in the area where the neonicotinoids will be used.

At a meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 16/11/2020, the Agriculture Ministers of AT, BG, LU, RO, and SK expressed concerns about the conclusion of an EU trade agreement with Mercosur. According to the ministers, the competitiveness of EU farmers could be jeopardized, especially in the context of lower environmental, social and climate production standards in Mercosur. However, many European commodities are already facing challenges that are weakening the sectors - falling market prices, the African swine fever, Brexit, or enhanced environmental and climate ambitions under the European Green Deal. The trade agreement with Mercosur should therefore be revised to reflect the current challenges facing the European agricultural sector. The opinion was also supported by representatives of FR, IE, BE, BG, GR, and HU. However, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski supported the trade agreement, and the Commission will soon publish a study on the cumulative impact of trade agreements on the EU agricultural sector.

EU agriculture ministers discussed the situation on EU commodity agricultural markets at an informal videoconference of ministers on 16/11/2020, together with information from the Austrian delegation on the effects of the EU-Mercosur agreement on agriculture. In the Miscellaneous section, Ministers heard information from the Presidency and the Commission on food losses and food waste, and information from the Commission on the Farm to Fork strategy conference. Ministers were also briefed on preparations for the UN summit on food systems, and on the adoption of Council conclusions on the EU's post-2020 forestry strategy. Finally, the Danish delegation informed about the current state of mink farming in connection with COVID-19, then the Czech and Polish delegations informed about the measures, cooperation, and funding of veterinary programs related to measures in the field of African swine fever.
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On 10/11/2020, the European institutions launched trialogues on the CAP reform. By the end of this year, three more trialogues will take place in addition to the CAP Strategic Plans-on 19/11/2020, 01/12/2020, and 10/12/2020. A trialogue on the Common Market Organization should take place on 02/12/2020. During the first so-called super-trialogue, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, also emphasized the need to strengthen the ambitions of the new CAP, move towards sustainability and strengthen the role of eco-schemes. Timmermans mentioned that 20% of beneficiaries receive a total of 80% of all CAP funds, which was opposed by the German Minister of Agriculture, Julia Klöckner, who currently chairs the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. The allocation of funds for agri-environmental measures in the second CAP pillar could be problematic - according to the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski, the Council's proposal to fully include ANC areas in the proposed 30% for agri-environmental measures in the second pillar is a step back. Inclusion of ANC areas in agri-environmental measures in the second pillar also reject European environmental NGOs, which call the Council's proposal greenwashing. Other topics on which the European institutions do not currently agree will include support for the wine sector. In its opinion on the CAP, the Council agreed to extend the scheme for authorizing the planting of vines until 31/12/2040. Under the current CAP, the scheme is due to expire in 2030, with a revision in 2023. The Council's position was supported by declarations by 11 major wine-growing countries calling for the scheme to be extended until 2050. However, the European Commission rejects the extension of the scheme on the grounds that there are no political or economic reasons for the extension and that, on the contrary, the access of new investors to the sector is restricted.
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The Greens' political faction in the European Parliament, together with environmental NGOs from across the EU, has intensified pressure in recent weeks towards the European Commission to withdraw CAP reform proposals. However, the Commission is not united in responding to this pressure. Earlier last week, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen assured her that she did not plan to withdraw CAP proposals. According to von der Leyen, it will be possible to set the new CAP in line with the European Green Deal and the strategies for biodiversity and Farm to Fork during the EP, EC and Council trialogues. However, on 13/11/2020, Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said that if the CAP were not in line with the Commission's vision for green architecture, he could personally support the withdrawal and recasting of CAP proposals. Among the requirements for the new CAP, Timmermans also included an allocation of at least 30% of the envelope for the first pillar for eco-schemes. The European agricultural think tank Farm Europe has stated that withdrawing proposals at this point, where the proposals are already being discussed in a trialogue, would be contrary to EU law. MEPs from the European Parliament's largest political faction EPP (Peter Jahr, DE; Herbert Dorfmann, IT; Norbert Lins, DE; Anne Sander, FR; a Juan Ignacio Zoido, ES) have already spoken out against the Commission's divergent position and supported von der Leyen's earlier statement and rejected the parties' threats to the possible withdrawal of CAP proposals by Timmermans.
More information is available here and here.