News

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic met with Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture on 08/01/2020, following the presidency of the Council of the European Union by Croatia (January to June 2020). The Prime Minister and the Commissioner discussed the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and discussed the priorities of the Croatian Presidency, including the emphasis on ensuring support for family farms and young farmers. At the meeting, both participants stressed that for the dynamic development of the agricultural sector in the European Union, funding for the second pillar of the CAP - rural development programs - should be supported, as well as environmentally friendly use of natural resources and the development and use of new technologies.
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According to the EP rapporteur on the main part of the CAP transition period, Elsi Katainen (FI, Renew Europe), the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) should vote on its opinion by the end of April 2020. Elsi Katainen held a meeting on 08/01/2020. Katainen stated at the beginning of the meeting that he expects the opinion of COMAGRI in April 2020. This would ensure that there are no delays in the payments for farmers during transition period. Katainen said that the one-year transition period, as proposed by the European Commission, might not be enough, so we should be prepared to negotiate a two-year period. Attention should be paid not only to the continuation of rural development programs but also to transitional national support. The draft report should be submitted by Katainen at the end of February 2020. At the stakeholders´ meeting, a representative of the European Commission called on Parliament to approve the proposal as it was submitted - the Commission already considers the proposal as a fair compromise, modifications could delay the process. The Commission representative also rejected the continuation of the payment of transitional national aid, which is due to end in 2020 under the 2013 agreement. Representatives of agricultural organizations mostly supported the extension of the transitional period to two years, while the transitional period for one year was supported by the Danish agricultural and food chamber. Trialogues of the Commission, Parliament and the Council will be launched once the EP plenary opinion is approved.

Irish political party Fianna Fail supported the continuation of efforts to achieve internal convergence of direct payments during the transition period, which should be set for the transition from the old to the new rules of the Common Agricultural Policy. All direct payments in Ireland are now at least 60% of the average, the European Commission proposes to continue to achieve internal convergence up to 75% of the average in the Member States by 2020 for the new CAP after 2020. However, the new CAP rules will come into force later as was expected - probably one or two years later. This could also delay efforts to achieve internal convergence of direct payments within Member States, which Ireland would like to avoid through a clause that will allow internal convergence during the transitional period.
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The new Spanish government was confirmed on 07/01/2020, the Minister of Agriculture remains Luis Planas, but there will be other changes in the government. A new government program was also presented that day - under the new program, Spain will pursue a sufficient budget in agricultural policy to ensure the economic, social and environmental sustainability of Spanish farms and forests; the role of women in agriculture and their contribution to strengthening environmental protection should be strengthened - women in agriculture, leading role of SMEs, attention should be focused on a sustainable forestry policy that will help to develop employment in rural areas and to protect biodiversity.
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Rules to ensure greater consumer protection under the New EU Consumer Agreement entered into force on 07/01/2020. Mrs Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission, stressed the deserved increase in consumer protection in the digital environment, saying that the EU itself refused to sell products sold under the same brand but with different composition in different Member States. She stressed above all the necessity of speedy introduction of new rules by the Member States. Violation of EU consumer rules on a large scale will be penalized with a fine of at least 4% of annual turnover. Member States have two years to implement the Directive in their legal systems.
More information is available here.