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A group of a total of 65 MEPs from the various political groups in the European Parliament sent a letter to the highest representatives of the Member States to ensure that external convergence of direct payments was supported. The Group of MEPs expressed its dissatisfaction with the opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, which rejected the continuation of external convergence during the vote on the opinion on the transitional period for the CAP (so far only the Committee's opinion). MEPs in their letter say that the current system is weakening the agricultural sector in countries with direct payments well below the EU average. The plenary of the European Parliament should vote on the transitional period this week.
More information is available here.

Ministers of Agriculture of the Member States will discuss by videoconference on 13/05/2020 the effects of COVID-19 on the agri-food sector and the market measures presented by the European Commission on 22/04/2020 to help the agricultural sector during the pandemic crises. The video conference will also be attended by Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, and Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for the Environment, agricultural organizations will be represented by Copa and Cogeca during the ministerial meeting. Ministers should discuss whether the market measures taken are sufficient and effective, what further measures should be put in place and how these measures should be financed.

The Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) discussed on 07/05/2020 another possible package of market measures to help the sector during the pandemic crisis. Representatives of the Member States called on the Commission to step up support for the wine (FR), veal and duck (NL), poultry (PL), potatoes (BE) and olive oil (ES) sectors. However, representatives of the European Commission, who were also present at the meeting, said that the funds available under the EU budget would be used as a matter of priority to support measures aimed at public health and not agriculture.

On 22/04/2020, the European Commission adopted market measures to help the agri-food sector during the pandemic crisis. These measures were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 04/05/2020, in particular the regulations on: opening a temporary exceptional private storage aid scheme for certain cheeses and fixing the amount of aid in advance; on temporary exceptional measures derogating from certain provisions of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council to address the market disturbance in the fruit and vegetables and wine sectors caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and measures linked to it; authorising agreements and decisions on market stabilisation measures in the potatoes sector; authorising agreements and decisions on market stabilisation measures in the live trees and other plants, bulbs, roots and the like, cut flowers and ornamental foliage sector; granting aid for private storage for sheepmeat and goatmeat and fixing the amount of the aid in advance; granting aid for private storage for fresh and chilled meat of bovine animals aged eight months or more and fixing the amount of aid in advance; granting aid for private storage for butter and fixing the amount of aid in advance; granting aid for private storage for skimmed milk powder and fixing the amount of aid in advance; authorising agreements and decisions on the planning of production in the milk and milk products sector; and on emergency measures derogating from Articles 62 and 66 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the validity of vine planting authorisations and the grubbing up in case of anticipated replanting.
In addition to these measures, the Commission has proposed to allow Member States to use envelope funding for rural development programs to compensate farmers and small farms for losses of up to € 5,000 and € 50,000. This support can be provided as a complement to de minimis and reinforced state aid. The market measures published in the Official Journal entered into force on 05/05/2020, the proposal to use the envelope resources for rural development will have to be approved by the Council and the European Parliament.
More information is available here and here.

Last week, the United States provided the agricultural sector with a third support package in response to the expansion of the COVID-19. The first $ 14 billion package was designed to strengthen major agricultural support programs, and the second $ 19 billion package was split to support direct payments ($ 16 billion) and commodity purchases ($ 3 billion). So far, last package amounts to $ 470 million, most of the support will be provided to the dairy sector ($ 120 million), but the support will also cover potatoes, chicken and turkey, pork, fruit, and fish. The European think tank Farm Europe compared aid paid in the US and the EU per farmer, stressing that the aid in the EU promised to the agricultural sector amounts to € 80 million. In terms of farmers, the US provides € 15,415 (€ 73 per hectare), the European Union provides only € 8 per farmer (€ 0.5 per hectare).