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In response to the agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the EU recovery plan, the European think tank Farm Europe stated that although the CAP budget at current prices is around the level of the current budget, at constant prices (2018, taking into account 2% inflation) is €39 billion below its level (-10%). About half of the reduced amount is linked to Brexit (UK contributed €2.7 billion a year to the CAP). According to Farm Europe, this means that around €20 billion (half of the €39 billion) has been spent on farmers to finance other European policies. Contrary to the European Commission's proposal of May 2020, the new budget for the CAP (under the MFF), approved last week, is more or less unchanged for the 1st Pillar, the 2nd Pillar was strengthened by €2.8 billion. However, Farm Europe recalls that the budget for the recovery plan has reduced the originally proposed €15 billion for the 2nd Pillar by half, so farmers will receive only €7.5 billion. In addition, Farm Europe emphasizes that 40% of the total CAP budget will have to be allocated to climate protection initiatives.
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During the Council of Ministers on 20/07/2020, the Ministers of Agriculture discussed the Common Agricultural Policy and the new Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies. A total of 14 ministers rejected the proposal to introduce a minimum budget for eco-schemes (climate and environmental schemes) under the 1st Pillar of the CAP. On the other hand, German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner generally supported the minimum allocation for eco-schemes. In this context, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski emphasized that the CAP strategic plans could be rejected by the European Commission if they were not ambitious enough and if they did not pursue the objectives of the Europe Green Deal. The Finnish and Italian ministers supported guidelines for Member States rather than setting legally binding targets. Aside from one of the objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy, allocating at least 10% of agricultural land to non-productive elements, the French minister said that this objective should only apply to arable land, which shows the greatest decline in biodiversity.
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The Group of Environmental NGOs called on the Commission to align the objectives of the CAP proposed in 2018 with the new objectives proposed in the European Green Deal. Organizations criticize Member States' demand for legislative non-binding nature of targets. In mid-July, the Ministers of Agriculture of CZ, SK, HU, PL, BG, and RO supported the optional link between the CAP and the objectives of the Green Deal. Last week, Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, merely stated that objectives of the Farm to Fork should be set at EU level and not at the level of individual Member States.
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The European Union has supported a new promotional campaign called ‘Let’s talk about pork’ to the tune of around €7.5 million. The campaign has been launched in FR, ES and PT. The aim of the campaign is to support the production and consumption of pork and to raise awareness of animal welfare infringements. However, according to some, especially environmental organizations, subsidies to support pork production should be completely abolished; in the future, no EU funding should be used to promote meat products obtained from intensive EU farming.
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Organization for Animal Health are jointly calling on states to become more involved in the fight against African swine fever. It is especially important to quickly share the latest scientific knowledge, international cooperation, and report the occurrence of the disease. The organizations are also calling for a new initiative to control African swine fever in order to coordinate and protect food systems more effectively.
More information is available here.