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The European Court of Auditors (ECA) issued a report on 05/06/2020 on the relationship between the CAP and biodiversity. The ECA concluded in its report that, despite the measures introduced under the CAP, biodiversity continues to decline, with intensive agriculture continuing to be the main cause of the decline. According to the ECA, CAP funding has only a limited impact on biodiversity, intensive agriculture has led to a decline in the amount and diversity of natural vegetation and subsequently in animals; and the EU's biodiversity strategy to 2020 has not set measurable targets for agriculture. The ECA further states that direct payments to farmers accounted for more than 70% of all EU agricultural expenditure in 2019, but that the Commission's monitoring of expenditure that contributes to biodiversity is unreliable. The ECA therefore recommended that the Commission better coordinate the 2030 biodiversity strategy, increase the contribution of direct payments and rural development measures to biodiversity, monitor biodiversity-related expenditure more closely and develop reliable indicators for assessing the impact of the CAP. The ECA report was issued only two weeks after the publication of the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
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The Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) discussed the Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy on 04/05/2020. SCA members generally welcomed the objectives of both strategies, but representatives of IE, SK, RO, FR, CZ, GR, IT, PL, and BG called for a strong CAP and an adequate budget to meet the objectives. According to them, the revised MFF proposal does not provide an adequate budget for the CAP, despite an increase compared to the 2018 proposal. However, representatives of DK, SE and NL stated that Member States should be able to meet the objectives of the strategies regardless of the budget. Representatives of SI and SK called on the Commission to provide allocations for individual Member States, representatives of SI and SE called for an impact assessment before implementing the objectives. Sweden emphasized that the Commission must also take into account the different starting positions of Member States when setting national targets (at EU level, the Commission supports, for example, reducing the use of chemical pesticides by 50%, fertilizers by 20% or expanding organic farming to 25% of agricultural land). According to representatives of the Commission, the implementation of the targets will not lead to a decrease in production. The Commission also added that funding for the second pillar provided under the recovery plan (€15 billion) will not be transferable to the first pillar.

The European Parliament's Committees on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) and on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) continue to seek the competence to prepare Parliament's opinion on the Farm to Fork Strategy. COMENVI has already elected rapporteur for the opinion, Dutch MEP Anju Hazekamp (GUE / NGL), but according to European media, the COMAGRI Committee could eventually be the lead committee for the opinion. It should be decided by 19/06/2020.

The European Commission has published a Roadmap to revise the rules on the sustainable use of pesticides. The roadmap is complemented by an initial impact assessment and sets out a plan for possible amendments to the Directive on Sustainable Use of Pesticides. The Commission has launched a public consultation on the Roadmap, which is open until 07/08/2020. The public consultation will be followed by a public consultation on the revision of the Directive in the last quarter of 2020. The revised rules should be presented in the first quarter of 2021. EU pesticide sales have been stable since 2011, but the use of non-chemical alternatives is low, according to the Commission. According to the European Commission, the use of pesticides leads not only to a decrease in biodiversity, but also to water and soil pollution.
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The Polish government plans to establish a new holding company Polski Holding Spożywczy (Polish food holding company) by the end of this year, which should associate agri-food companies in Poland. Poland is also considering setting up a state-controlled supermarket chain to which Polski Holding Spożywczy would supply. This would strengthen consumers' access to Polish food, ensure a fair price for food for consumers and fair prices for farmers.
More information is available here.