News

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) issued a report on 09/07/2020, according to which EU measures introduced to protect pollinators had little effect on halting the decline of pollinators. The ECA's report states that "Pollinators greatly contribute to increasing the quantity and quality of our food. In recent decades, however, wild pollinators have declined in abundance and in diversity, largely due to intensive agriculture and the use of pesticides." According to the ECA, the Commission did not put in place effective measures to protect pollinators, the ECA described the CAP as "part of the problem, not part of the solution". In response to the ECA's report, the environmental organization Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN) stated that the European Commission, on the one hand, supports biodiversity restoration activities under the CAP, but still supports the development of intensive agriculture through area payments.
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On 07/07/2020, the European Commission adopted another package of exceptional measures to support the wine sector. The measures will allow companies to temporarily organize and implement market measures to stabilize the wine sector for a maximum of 6 months. The EU will also increase the contribution for all measures of national support programs by 10% to 70% and will allow companies to provide advances for ongoing distillation and crisis storage to cover up to 100% of costs.
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The European Vegetarian Union has lodged a complaint with the Commission against a French law restricting the use of names traditionally used to meat products for vegetarian food (vegetarian burgers, sausages, etc.). According to France, the use of traditional names for vegetarian foods confuses consumers. However, according to the Vegetarian Union, the law runs counter to the EU's efforts to reduce meat consumption and distorts the European single market, as food producers will be forced to make special adjustments to the labelling of products exported to France.
More information is available here and here.

Analysis of 115 samples of plant-based milk sold in Australia revealed especially low content of important minerals and vitamins (A, B12, calcium, protein, zinc, iodine) compared to cow's milk. According to the analysis, consumers perceive plant-based milk as an adequate source of minerals.
More information is available here.

Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said last week that intensive livestock production practices would not ensure food sovereignty or food security in the European Union in the future. According to Wojciechowski, intensive livestock production requiring the transport of live animals over long distances (hundreds to thousands of kilometres), requiring the import of feed from third countries, especially the US, and requiring the relocation of workers from countries neighbouring the EU should not be the future of European agriculture.