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The European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety is threatening to disapprove the EU Member States' proposal to protect bees from the effects of pesticide use. The Committee considers the proposal to be less ambitious than previous ones. Committee members expressed concern that with the new proposal, member states could tolerate higher bee mortality than has been the case so far. In addition, the model does not consider solitary and wild bees or bumblebees. The Committee also called on the European Commission to step up communication with the Member States to ensure that the ambitions for the protection of pollinators in the current proposal are strengthened.

During the Council of Ministers on 21/09/2020, agriculture ministers discussed the CAP, green architecture (here), eco-schemes, support for protein crop production in the EU (here), and animal welfare labelling. The German Presidency confirmed its interest in reaching a general agreement in the Council on the CAP during October 2020, which was also generally welcomed by other ministers. Ministers also addressed the issue of nutrition labelling on the front of food packaging (here). The general part discussed the situation regarding the spread of African swine fever in Germany. Germany has supported mandatory eco-schemes with a minimum mandatory allocation of funds, and with enhanced flexibility for the first two years of implementing eco-schemes. With regard to cross-compliance, DE supported the extension of non-productive areas beyond the current 5%; according to DE, the cross-compliance rules should apply to all farmers without distinction (it did not support the exclusion of small farmers from cross-compliance). For environmental measures in the second pillar, 30% of the budget should be allocated, capping of direct payments should be voluntary, capping should be allowed for amounts below €100,000.

The discussion of the ministers also resulted in:

- Support for mandatory eco-schemes: IE, BG;
- Support for voluntary eco-schemes: HR, LT, LU, GR, HU, MT;
- Support for setting the minimum mandatory allocation for eco-schemes: ES, FR, PT, AT, NL;
- Rejection of setting the minimum mandatory allocation for eco-schemes: LU, IT, SK, HU, FI, RO;
- Support for the exclusion of small farmers from cross compliance: HR, PT, LU, EE, HU, PL, BG, MT, PL, RO, MT;
- Support for the exclusion of small farmers from the system of sanctions: GR, EE;
- Refusal to exclude small farmers from cross compliance: DE, LT, BE;
- Support for the inclusion of ANC areas in agri-environmental measures in the second pillar: FR, ES;
- Support for strengthening protein crop production in the EU, including the use of VCS payments: FR, HR, CY, CZ, GR, LV, LT, LU, PL, RO, SL, SK, ES, DK (in part);
- Support for increasing VCS payments: HU, SK, PL, CZ;
- Support for voluntary nutrition labelling on the front of packaging: IT, CZ, CY, EL, HU, LV, RO.

At the end of the meeting, the European Commission confirmed its interest in allocating up to 2% of the envelope for direct payments to support the production of protein crops, and also promised to carry out an impact assessment on nutrition labelling on the front of food packaging.
More information is available here.

The European Union will release €7.5 billion for the second pillar of the CAP as part of the EU's recovery plan following the COVID 19 crisis. Last week, MEPs held a debate in the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development on the use of these funds. The rapporteur for the EP's opinion on the recovery plan is Italian MEP Paolo de Castro (S&D), according to which up to 100% (but at least 2/3) of the funds should be linked to sustainability and digitalisation goals, 37% should be allocated to environmental and climate measures. According to De Castro, these funds should help the economic and social development of rural areas, digitization, the development of organic farming, the reduction of chemical pesticides, and better management of land and water resources. The remaining funds should be earmarked for investment, which should go to smart agriculture, precision agriculture, and the development of internet accessibility in rural areas. Some MEPs have expressed concern about delaying the actual payment of funds to farmers. Concerns were raised mainly because the discussion could have been completed much more quickly in the ongoing EP trialogues with the Council and the European Commission on the so-called Transitional Regulation. However, this option, proposed by the German Presidency, was rejected by the European Parliament. According to unofficial information, Paolo de Castro is currently seeking to release 50% of the amount during 2021, and 50% during 2022. Under its presidency, Germany supports the release of 30% in 2021 and 70% in 2022. In addition to the issue of the commitment of funds to climate and the environment, the main topics discussed will include the issue of the eligibility of expenditure on LFA payments and the level of co-financing by Member States.

According to last week's representatives, the European Commission will be willing to accede to the two-year transitional period of the CAP, but only on the condition that Member States commit to implementing truly ambitious climate and environmental protection measures. These ambitious plans must be included in the CAP already during the transitional period, but, according to the Commission, the ambitions of the Member States must be significantly strengthened. According to the European Commission, one way is to use the €7.5 billion of recovery plan to compensate for the current under-ambitious CAP. According to current EU legislation, an agreement on a transitional period should be reached by the end of this year.

The German Sugar Producers' Association has called for an end to payments linked to sugar beet production in the European Union. As Germany is not the only country to use voluntary coupled payments (VCS), German sugar producers are at a 30% financial disadvantage compared to other EU producers. The sugar industry and organizations representing sugar beet producers therefore called on German Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner to end VCS payments in the EU, which would also support the sustainability of the EU agricultural industry.
More information is available here.