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French President Emmanuel Macron has approved proposals for a civil climate convention aimed at combating climate change. The proposals also include increased support for local and organic farming to strengthen French self-sufficiency and reduce the import of genetically modified proteins. Macron also refused to ratify the trade agreement with Mercosur, on the grounds that Mercosur's agricultural practices and regulations were not in line with the EU's Paris Climate Agreement.
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The European Commission presented a draft of the new budget of the European Union for 2021 on 24/06/2020. The budget should amount to €166.7 billion, complemented by €211 billion in grants and €133 billion in loans under the temporary facility for support for the recovery of the Next Generation EU. The Commission proposes to allocate €575 million from the budget to the Single Market Programme, €55.2 billion should be allocated to the Common Agricultural Policy, and a further €813 million to the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. This budget should help European farmers and fishermen and strengthen the resilience of the agri-food and fisheries sectors. Another €47.15 billion is proposed by the Commission for Cohesion Policy, which will be complemented by €42.45 billion from the REACT-EU initiative, as proposed under Next Generation EU. The funds will be earmarked for employment subsidies, part-time schemes and measures for youth employment and the liquidity and solvency of small and medium-sized enterprises. A total of €9.47 billion should be earmarked for the Just Transition Fund to ensure that "no one is left behind" in the transition to climate neutrality. The draft budget for 2021 is based on the draft EU Multiannual Financial Framework presented by the Commission on 27/05/2020. Once the European Parliament and the Council have approved the MFF 2021-2027, including the Next Generation EU, the Commission will adjust its draft budget for 2021 accordingly.
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The European Parliament's rapporteur for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)’s transitional regulations, Elsi Katainen (Renew, FI), said last week that the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission were approaching an agreement in a joint negotiation on the form of the transition period. Agreement was reached on several key issues, including internal convergence (Commission rejects mandatory) and the length of the transition period (Council and Parliament support two years, the Commission has not yet supported two years last week). According to Katainen, however, an agreement could be reached as early as 30/06/2020.
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Last month, the European Court of Auditors issued a report stating that current CAP rules are not enough to halt the loss of biodiversity. The European Statistical Office (Eurostat) came up with a similar report last week. According to Eurostat, biodiversity suffers mainly from ongoing efforts to boost agricultural production. The diversity of birds on agricultural land decreased by 28.3% between 1990 and 2018. According to Eurostat, the intensification of agriculture has reduced nesting habitats, including hedges, wetlands and meadows; agrochemicals and changes in plowing timing have disrupted bird habits and reduced their available food resources.
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Austrian Agriculture Minister Elisabet Köstinger said on 23/06/2020 that the EU Biodiversity Strategy was losing logical coherence. Köstinger called on the Commission to carry out an impact assessment on the individual objectives of the Strategy. According to Köstinger, some of the objectives set out by the Commission in the Strategy may not lead to the strengthening of biodiversity, for example, including the target of leaving 10% of agricultural land for non-productive elements. On the contrary, the implementation of this objective could strengthen imports from third countries.