News

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.
More information is available here.

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.

Most of agricultural political group coordinators in the EP's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development agreed that the European Parliament should vote on the future CAP in plenary in October 2020. Due to the decision to negotiate the CAP within the various political factions, these factions should provide their views on the CAP by early September 2020 at the latest. The vote should take place on 19-22/10/2020.
More information is available here.

The Ministers of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania supported the optional link between the CAP and the objectives of the European Green Deal. According to the ministers, the targets set by the Commission in the Farm to fork strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy should not be legally binding, but should rather be a guide for Member States.
More information is available here.