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Last week, the German Federal Cabinet approved the draft agricultural policy budget at national level for 2021. The new budget will increase by a record €643 million to a total of €7.7 billion. This is historically the largest budget for agricultural policy in Germany. A total of €470 million will be earmarked to support the economy in the forestry and wood processing sectors, and €200 million will be earmarked to strengthen welfare of sows.
More information is available here.

On 24/09/2020, the European Commission approved support for small Lithuanian agricultural holdings through the EU Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). The support will amount to €3 million, aimed at supporting small businesses in rural areas. The Commission has also approved state aid for Belgian potato producers, with the new scheme amounting to €10 million. The support will be released to farmers in the Flemish part of the country and should help them achieve the necessary liquidity and maintain their activity.
More information is available here.

Italy and the Czech Republic submitted to the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 21/09/2020 a joint declaration on the Commission's proposed mandatory harmonized system of front-of-pack nutrition labels (FOPNL). In the declaration, also supported by CY, GR, HU, LV and RO, Member States propose that any harmonized nutrition labelling scheme should remain voluntary, and that all foods bearing a traditional specialty guaranteed or a protected geographical indication as well as single foods (e.g. olive oil, honey, etc.) should be excluded from the nutrition labelling scheme.
More information is available here and here.

Claire Bury, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, said last week that European citizens would consume significantly less meat and meat products in ten years' time. Claire Bury is one of the Commission's representatives working to implement new strategies, including the Farm to Fork Strategy. Similarly, the CEO of the Danone food company, Emmanuel Faber, said that the European Union must gradually phase out the consumption of animal proteins, but that they should not be completely banned. According to Faber, it is necessary to support the development of plant-based alternatives.

According to Farm Europe, the European Commission should move away from restrictions on the production of biofuels in the EU to reduce dependence on imports of protein feed. According to Farm Europe, the European Union is only 79% self-sufficient in rapeseed production, 42% in sunflower and only 5% in soybeans. The deficit leads to the import of up to 17 million tons of protein into the EU per year, of which 13 million tons are made up of soybean supplies, mainly from Brazil, Argentina, and the US. At the same time, however, the Commission is restricting support to produce first-generation biofuels, which are also linked to the production of protein feed, which is a by-product of rapeseed processing.