News

The European Commission will hold the first official Farm to Fork conference at EU level on 15-16/10/2020. The two-day conference will take place at a distance, every day in the morning. Among the confirmed speakers are Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Pekka Pesonen, Secretary-General of Copa and Cogeca, Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, rapporteur for Farm to Fork in the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development), or Dutch MEP Anja Hazekamp (GUE / NGL, rapporteur for Farm to Fork in the EP Environment Committee). Speakers also include representatives of WWF and Nestlé. Thematically, the conference will focus on the transition to sustainable food systems, both in the context of food producers and farmers and consumers.
Registration is possible until 09/10/2020, available here.

Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, confirmed last week that the European Commission is working on guidelines and recommendations that should make it easier for Member States to link the Common Agricultural Policy to the objectives of the European Green Deal. According to Wojciechowski, the guidelines will not be legally binding. This was stated by the Commissioner after several Member States' representatives refused to link the CAP to the European Green Deal during the Council of Ministers based on legally binding steps.

The European Commission has informed Member States in writing that is ready to take legal action against Member States if they continue to fail to comply or violate existing rules on the use of pesticides or animal welfare. Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Kyriakides called on Member States to fully and immediately implement all current EU rules and requirements related to the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy and the European Green Deal.

On 21/09/2020, the Commission adopted revised EU Emission Trading System State aid Guidelines (“ETS Guidelines”). The guidelines are developed in accordance with the Green Deal and will enter into force in early 2021. The guidelines aim to reduce the risk of relocation to countries with less lenient climate legislation, while allowing Member States to compensate some companies for the price of electricity.
More information is available here.

The environmental organization Greenpeace stated last week that livestock production in the EU is a greater polluter in terms of greenhouse gases than the transport sector. According to Greenpeace, livestock production is responsible for producing 17% of greenhouse gases in the EU, while emissions from passenger transport account for only 14.5%. In addition, according to Greenpeace, greenhouse gas emissions from livestock production are growing rapidly, by 6% between 2007 and 2018. Greenpeace further states that if livestock production includes indirect emissions from feed production or deforestation, total EU livestock emissions will reach 704 million tons of CO2, which is more than the total annual emissions of Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary together.
More information is available here.