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During its Plenary Session on 10/07/2020, the European Parliament adopted an EP resolution on the draft Commission implementing regulation concerning the extension of the approval of the active substances beflubutamid, benalaxyl, benthiavalicarb, bifenazate, boscalid, bromoxynil, captan, cyazofamid, dimethomorph, ethephon, etoxazole, famoxadone, fenamiphos, flumioxazine, fluoxastrobin, folpet, formetanate, metribuzin, milbemectin, Paecilomyces lilacinus strain 251, phenmedipham, phosmet, pirimiphos-methyl, propamocarb, prothioconazole and S-metolachlor. Parliament states that the Commission's proposal is incompatible with EU law because it runs counter to the precautionary principle. The EP also condemns the serious delays in the re-authorization process and in the identification of endocrine disruptors, and calls on the Commission to withdraw the draft implementing regulation and submit a new proposal to the committee taking into account scientific evidence on the harmful properties of all relevant substances, in particular flumioxazine.
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China has suspended meat imports from Germany and the Netherlands due to several new confirmed cases of coronavirus in these countries. Flavio Coturni, Head of the Commission's Directorate-General for Agricultural Trade, said that China had not discussed trade restrictions with the Commission, but had contacted Member States individually. Germany is currently working to restore the possibility of imports into China, relying on the fact that the World Health Organization has not demonstrated the transmission of the disease through food.
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Agriculture ministers discussed the Common Agricultural Policy on 29/06/2020 during the Council of Ministers. The Croatian Presidency (replaced by Germany from 01/07/2020) has presented a progress report on the CAP negotiations (available here), but further technical negotiations will need to build on the work done so far. Negotiations will continue, especially on the topics of indicators, performance model, implementation of eco-schemes, control systems and penalties, definition of eligible hectares, sectoral interventions, and voluntary coupled support (VCS). During the discussion on the CAP, ministers welcomed the progress made during the Croatian presidency, supported the simplification of the CAP implementation mechanism, and expressed concern about how the objectives of the new biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies would be reflected in the process of setting new CAP rules. In terms of these strategies, several agriculture ministers have supported the implementation of overall assessments of the impact of strategies on the agricultural sector. According to the ministers, the new environmental ambitions should also be reflected in the budget for the CAP.
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On 01/07/2020, Germany took over the Presidency of the Council after Croatia. German Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner said that Germany would work towards a general agreement on CAP reform by October 2020. An agreement on the CAP could only be reached once an agreement was reached on the Multiannual Financial Framework, which Germany wants to reach by the end of August 2020 at the latest. The final agreement on the CAP transition period (partially reached on 30/06/2020) should be reached in mid-November 2020. Regarding the new Farm to Fork and biodiversity strategies, Klöckner said that it would be necessary to examine whether achieving the targets, including a 50% reduction in pesticides or a 20% reduction in fertilizers, was economically feasible. According to Klöckner, the different starting situations of the Member States must be considered, and an impact assessment of these strategies must be carried out. Germany will also seek agreement in the Council on an Action Plan for the Circular Economy, followed by its implementation. In this context, Germany could, for example, support a minimum proportion of the recycled component in plastic products. Germany has also included animal welfare labelling (support for European labelling) and sustainable food production among its priorities.

The European Parliament, the Commission and the Council reached a partial agreement on the rules for the transitional period of the CAP on 30/06/2020. The transitional period will be set at two years, and the new CAP rules should enter into force at the beginning of 2023. During this period, it will also be possible to extend transitional state aid in some Member States. The duration of multi-annual projects on organic farming, animal welfare and agri-environmental measures will be limited to five years. For a transitional period, the CAP should follow the current rules (CAP 2014-2020), but with a new budget. The final agreement will be reached only after an agreement has been reached on the Multiannual Financial Framework (provisionally 16-17/11/2020). German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that Germany would try to reach an agreement on the MFF during the summer of 2020, the first two months of the German presidency of the Council.
More information is available here and here.