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The European Commission is preparing an impact assessment on measures to increase packaging reuse and recycling. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive requiring Member States to recycle at least 65% of packaging by 2025 should also be reviewed. At the same time, Dutch MEP Jan Huitema (Renew Europe) was appointed rapporteur for the non-binding report of the European Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee on the new Circular Economy Action Plan, which also covers plastic reuse and plastic waste reduction.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published an annual report on pesticide residues found in food in the EU on 02/04/2002. From a total of 91,015 samples tested in 2018, 95.5% of the samples met the permitted limits. Glyphosate traces were not found in 98% of analysed samples, the highest exceeded limit was identified in dry lenses. The report proposes several recommendations to increase the effectiveness of European control systems.
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The World Trade Organization (WTO) warned against the effects of coronavirus on world trade on 08/04/2020. The WTO expects a 13-32% fall in world trade, and world trade could only be fully restored in 2021, if countries cooperate. In fact, according to the WTO, all countries should face a trade drop of more than 10% this year. According to the WTO, the effects of coronavirus could therefore be worse than that caused by the Great Recession in 2009, when the world trade fell by 12.5%.
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France asks the European Commission to use the instruments of the Common organisation of the markets (CMO) in agricultural commodities to address the market imbalance that has arisen. The current restriction on international trade may result in a shortage of imported food and a surplus of local production. The establishment of food stocks, as provided for in European legislation, would, according to France, prevent prices from falling and excessive food waste. French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume also called on the Commission to introduce market measures, including a private storage scheme for dairy products, to help the sector during the coronavirus crisis. The German Minister of Agriculture, Jula Klöckner, also called on the Commission to introduce measures to stabilize the situation on agricultural markets, including the private storage regime.
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On 02/04/2020, the European Commission presented new measures aimed at helping the agri-food sector to allow for a prompt response to the crisis, in the form of the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative Plus (CRII+) and the new instrument for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE), which should amount to up to €100 billion in total. The SURE instrument should provide loans based on guarantees provided by Member States, should allow for shorter working hours while ensuring the salaries of employees. The SURE instrument also seeks to mitigate the effects of the crisis on the agricultural sector and the food chain - the Commission proposes to introduce extra flexibility and simplification for the use of the European Structural and Investment Funds, including the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. CRII + should support farmers, rural areas and EU Member States through enhanced flexibility in the following areas: use of financial instruments (farmers and other beneficiaries should be allowed to use loans or guarantees up to EUR 200,000 on favourable terms such as very low interest rates or favourable repayment schedules); reallocation of funds (Member States should be allowed to use unspent funds from rural development programs, but will not have to return them to the EU budget, but the money will still need to be used for the relevant rural development program); the possibility of postponing the submission of annual reports. Under CRII +, the Commission has already allowed the postponement of applications for direct payments until 15/06/2020, and there should also be an increase in payment advances (increase in advances for direct payments from 50% to 70% and for rural development payments from 75% to 85%, available from 16/10/2020). Furthermore, the Commission plans to limit physical on-the-spot checks.
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