News

On 25/02/2020, twenty environmental NGOs sent a letter to the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, and Commissioners for Agriculture and Rural Development (Wojciechowski), for Health and Food Safety (Kyriakides), and for the Environment (Sinkevichius) to support the reduction of production and consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs under the Farm to Fork Strategy. Organizations (such as WWF, BirldLife, the European Environmental Bureau, or Greenpeace) said in a letter that the European Commission has not yet included steps to limit the production and consumption of these foods in the upcoming Farm to Fork Strategy, which should be published at the end of March 2020. According to the authors of the letter, there is excessive consumption of meat, dairy products and eggs in Europe, but the production of these foods is a heavy burden on the environment and the climate. Organizations supported extensive agriculture, the principles of circular economy, the production of alternative and plant-based protein sources, and the shift away from industrial farming. More information is available here.
US company Cargill last week confirmed the entry into the market for plant-based meat alternatives (here).

On 17/02/2020, the European Commission launched a public consultation on an initial document on the direction of the Farm to Fork Strategy, which will be open until 16/03/2020. A total of 33 responses have been sent (as of 01/03/2020), most responses have been sent in the last two days of the past week. Recent contributions support the clarification of forthcoming Farm to Fork plans in more detail, with the link between Farm to Fork and Common Agricultural Policy instruments based on scientific foundations (German Agricultural Research Alliance, here); from the Malta Business Bureau, support for food waste reduction and food waste prevention (here). The most extensive contribution last week was sent by the European Vegetarian Union, which calls for reducing of livestock production and the consumption of animal-based products while, at the same time, boosting the production of plant-based products for human consumption to reduce climate and environmental impacts, prevent negative health impacts of animal-based products consumption (obesity, cancer), and support improvements in animal welfare (here).
The consultation is available here.

On 24/02/2020 Poland organized a ministerial conference on the Common Agricultural Policy beyond 2020, attended by ministers of agriculture from Eastern and Central European countries. The conference was also attended by Polish President Andrzej Duda, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski, and Ministers of Agriculture from CZ, HU, LT, LV, EE, BG, RO and PL. Ministers discussed the CAP in the context of the European Green Deal and ongoing discussions on the level of the EU budget beyond 2020. According to ministers, the objectives of the new European Green Deal could jeopardize the viability of the European agricultural system if an adequate budget is not provided for agricultural policy. In this context, ministers refused to cut the budget for the CAP and supported it at least at its current level. Ministers also supported the achievement of external convergence of direct payments, according to ministers, it is justified not only in terms of balancing production cost differences within EU Member States, but also in view of the objectives of the European Green Deal, which should apply to all EU Member States (External convergence is opposed by GR, CY, IT, BE, DK, SI, and NL).
More information is available here.

The Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), a body preparing the work of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, in particular on CAP-related matters, composed of officials from the Permanent Representations or the Ministries of the Member States responsible for the CAP, discussed on 24/02/2020 the Common Agricultural Policy and the transitional period. Over twenty Member States supported the provision of a two-year transitional period for the CAP, only Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Portugal supported the European Parliament's proposal for the shortest (one-year) transition period and only if necessary, to extend it to two years. According to the representatives of the Croatian Presidency, the introduction of a two-year transition period is now more likely given the fact that the European Council did not agree on the EU budget beyond 2020 in the second half of February.

The European Commission should present its Circular Economy Action Plan next week. According to the leaked unfinished proposals, in addition to electronics or textiles, the Commission will also include packaging materials, plastics and food in the Action Plan. The Commission is also considering a possible revision of the Ecodesign Directive in order to enhance durability, reusability, reparability, reduce carbon and ecological footprint, enhance the quality of recycled materials, facilitate high quality recycling, and reduce the single use of products. As regards packaging, the Commission plans to strengthen the mandatory basic requirements for packaging that will be allowed on the EU market and will consider introducing further measures to reduce packaging overuse, reduce packaging waste, consider prohibiting the use of certain packaging materials in specific cases (for example, packaging for fruits and vegetables), and will focus on reducing the polymers used. The Commission will also consider introducing a harmonized European label to facilitate the sorting of packaging waste. As regards plastics, the European Commission will seek to reduce the occurrence of micro-plastics by banning the deliberate supply of micro-plastics; harmonization of rules for the inadvertent occurrence of microplastics; and the introduction of a microplastic labelling and certification system. The Commission will also seek to strengthen the role of bioplastics, biodegradable and compostable plastics. On the food side The Commission will target the reduction of food waste across the food supply chain.
More information is available here, leaked version from 17/02/2020.