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The Council of the European Union has approved signature of a trade agreement on geographical indications between the EU and China. The agreement will ensure the protection of 100 selected EU agri-food geographical indications in China and vice versa. After 4 years of the entry into force of the agreement, another 175 geographical indications will be added to the list. The agreement also allows for the future extension of the list to include additional geographical indications.
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EU leaders discuss the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) after 2020 at the European Summit, they discuss the proposal of European Council President Charles Michel, who proposes a total EU budget of €1.074 trillion. Michel also proposed maintaining a budget of €750 billion for the EU recovery plan following the coronavirus crisis (according to the Commission proposal of 27/05/2020, €500 billion in direct grants, €250 billion in loans), and supported the introduction of a cap of €100,000 on direct payments and taxes on non-recycled plastics. During the three-day meeting, Charles Michel proposed, under pressure from some Member States, to reduce the share of direct grants under the EU recovery plan (initially €500 billion), but it remains unresolved how much the recovery plan should be adjusted. Countries refusing to increase the budget (AT, DK, NL, SE and, after Saturday, FI) supported an overall budget reduction for the recovery plan to €700 billion, €350 billion in direct grants, €350 billion in loans. It was also possible to keep the budget of €750 billion, of which €375 billion would be provided in the form of direct grants and the same amount in the form of loans. However, the reduction of direct grants is rejected by the countries most affected by the coronavirus crisis. The representatives met overnight until the morning hours of 20/07/2020, and at 6 o'clock in the morning they agreed to continue negotiations. A new round of discussions will start on 20/07/2020 at 14:00.

The first meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council under the German Presidency will take place on 20/07/2020 in Brussels. In the first point, the DE will present its program during the presidency, and ministers will exchange views on the Farm to fork strategy and its link to the CAP. CZ will start the afternoon program by presenting a declaration on the outcome of the high-level videoconference of agriculture ministers of the V4 countries plus BG and RO together with an exchange of views on the post-2020 CAP reform package.
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On 15/07/2020, the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development discussed German agricultural policy priorities with representatives of the German Presidency. Germany will work towards an agreement on the CAP by October 2020, and a final agreement on the rules for the CAP transition should also be reached. The German Presidency has prioritized the EU budget, animal welfare, including the European animal welfare labelling system and live animal transport, precision agriculture, food waste reduction, food nutrition labelling, implementation of Farm to fork objectives and biodiversity strategies. According to DE, a minimum allocation for eco-schemes should be set aside, which should be mandatory for all Member States. Germany has supported a transitional period of two years, according to DE, it should be possible to use financial support from the Next Generation EU (EU recovery plan) already during the transitional period.
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In July, the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety confirmed its reluctance to continue joint negotiations on the CAP with the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. Representatives of both committees said last week that negotiations on the CAP are now likely to take place at the level of political factions, namely EPP, S&D and Renew Europe. This would circumvent the voting in the individual committees and proceed directly to the vote in the plenary of the European Parliament. However, the opinions of the members of the individual factions are also not uniform.