News

The European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development met on 30/04/2020 to discuss market intervention measures presented by the Commission on 22/04/2020. Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, also took part in the discussion. During the discussion, members of the committee agreed that the proposed measures would not be enough, they supported their extension to other sectors, including veal, poultry, pork and wine. MEPs also rejected a reduction in the CAP budget, calling for a strong budget and financial support to help the sector during the pandemic crisis from sources outside the CAP. Wojciechowski stated that the Commission has a limited budget, so the most affected sectors must be selected, which, according to him, do not yet include the poultrymeat sector. At the urging of some MEPs to further postpone the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Commissioner said that the strategy had been postponed to 20/05/2020 and should not be postponed further.
More information is available here, here and here.

Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, said last week that the European Commission should have the right to activate the agricultural crisis reserve without having to consult the Member States of the European Union. Its activation during the meeting of the Parliament’s Agriculture Committee on 30/04/2020 was supported, for example, by Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella (S&D), Mara Bizzotto (I&D, IT) and Eric Andrieu (S&D, FR). During the Committee meeting, the Commissioner stated that he was personally in favour of activating the reserve, but that under the current rules, its use must be agreed by the Council, i.e. the EU Member States.
More information is available here.

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has called for a review of the market intervention measures presented by the European Commission on 22/04/2020 to ensure support for the dairy sector. According to the CoR, these measures are not enough to prevent another crisis in the dairy market. The CoR therefore calls for the introduction of a voluntary volume reduction scheme at EU level, which would reduce the pressure on the private storage scheme for milk and milk products, for which the Commission has allocated € 30 million.
More information is available here.

A total of twelve MEPs from the five political factions of the European Parliament and ten Member States of the European Union have called on European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans to set up a Farm to Fork Strategy to move towards a plant-based diet and plant-based meat alternatives. The letter was also addressed to Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Stelle Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, and Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for the Environment. In the letter, MEPs point out the overconsumption of meat and dairy products, which they say is the biggest health risk of the current food system. According to them, the COVID-19 pandemic is caused by animal-borne diseases, and intensive industrial livestock production offers more opportunities for the development of new diseases and their transmission to humans. According to these MEPs, the current CAP supports large industrial enterprises focused on livestock production, reduces animal welfare and promotes the consumption of meat and dairy products. The new Farm to Fork Strategy should change this trend, MEPs call it "a unique opportunity to change and move towards a truly sustainable food system”. One of the steps should be the reduction of companies focused on intensive livestock production.

The Livestock and Meat Commission in Northern Ireland (LMCNI) warned last week that private storage aid, especially for lamb and beef, would negatively affect its price. Private storage will allow temporary withdrawal of products from the market for a minimum of 2-3 months and a maximum of 5-6 months. By freezing meat, especially high-quality beef steaks, its value decreases. To help the agri-food sector, the Commission has proposed exceptional measures worth € 80 million, of which € 46 million is for the beef and lamb sector.
More information is available here.