News

The results of the EU review of endocrine disruptor rules will be released in the middle of this year, as stated by Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevichius and Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides in a letter to EDC Free Europe (Europe without Endocrine Disruptors). The results will be discussed in October 2020 at the 2nd Annual Forum on Endocrine Disruptors. The European Commission is also preparing an amendment to the registration requirements in the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) to ensure that companies placing chemicals on the EU market provide data on endocrine disruptors contained in their devices.
The letter is available here.

China has reduced the import of poultry meat from Europe due to concerns about the further spread of bird flu. China banned the import of poultry products from Slovenia, Hungary, Germany and Ukraine on 21/02/2020. In China, there has been an outbreak of bird flu in the Sichuan, Hunan and Xinjiang provinces in recent months, in Europe, cases of outbreaks of bird flu have recently been reported in, for example, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Germany.
More information is available here.

The United Kingdom published its negotiating position for negotiations with the EU on 27/02/2020. The United Kingdom continues to insist on EU-UK trade conditions that the European Union has with Canada or New Zealand. But the British government refuses to have national laws comply with EU law. The United Kingdom could seek a comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU and maintain the standards of sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) The NFU expressed concern about future relations with the US in the context of the upcoming trade agreement negotiations, the NFU fears that Britain will open borders to products and food that are not subject to the same high requirements as local products in order to secure trade agreements with the rest of the world, which could jeopardize the competitiveness of domestic production.
More information is available here.

Extraordinary meeting of the European Council of Prime Ministers and Heads of Member States took place in Brussels on 20-21/02/2020; the Council discussed the shape of the future Multiannual Financial Framework (EU budget) after 2020. Although the President of the European Council Charles Michel has bilaterally negotiated with Member States' representatives in recent weeks, the Council has not reached an agreement, and negotiations will therefore continue in March 2020 (26-27/03/2020). In terms of the proposed CAP budget, many representatives of organizations and European institutions expressed dissatisfaction with the budget - according to Norbert Lins (DE, EPP), Chair of AGRI Committee, Charles Michel's proposal for the CAP is still over EUR 50 billion lower, than the current budget level. In the context of the new European Green Deal, Lins supported an increase in the budget to at least the current level, and the president of Renew Europe Dacian Ciolos (RO) also expressed a similar spirit. Copa and Cogeca, Europe's largest agricultural organization, also rejected budget cuts for the new CAP compared to the current situation, and representatives of the Irish agricultural organization called on their representatives to reject the draft European budget for the next seven years during the February Council meeting. External convergence also showed inconsistency - LV, LT, EE and PL supported its rapid achievement, while IT or CY opposed it.
More information is available here, here, here and here.

The proposal by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to introduce a plastic tax of 80 cents per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging could generate up to € 6.6 billion per year according to Commission calculations. EU Member States vary widely in recycling rates, from 74% in Lithuania to 24% in Malta, therefore a maximum contribution rate should be set, and in countries with less recycling rates a mechanism should be put in place to prevent unduly regressive impact on national contributions. According to the Commission, the tax on plastics is the least controversial option to offset the decline in available funds after the UK's departure from the EU.
Plan of the European Council is available here.