News

The new Austrian Government will not support the draft trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur countries. This stems from a government program published last week. The new Austrian government, which is now composed of the Austrian Conservative People's Party and the Greens, is to support trade agreements based on a holistic approach, with sufficient emphasis on environmental and climate protection, according to the program.
More information is available here.

During the Council of Ministers on 16/12/2019, agriculture ministers discussed the CAP reform package (here), however, in view of the ongoing discussions on the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), no agreement on the CAP has been reached. Ministers welcomed the progress report presented by the Finnish Presidency, but Ministers stressed that a number of points are still under discussion. Ministers FR, AT, ES, BG, CY, RO, IE and CZ stated that, given the expected strengthening of environmental and climate protection requirements in the context of the newly introduced European Green Deal, the budget for the CAP must be kept at least at the same level as at present, at current prices. The Danish Minister of Agriculture, on the other hand, stated that the budget should not be strengthened, even in the context of strengthened requirements.

Ministers were not unanimous about external convergence - while some states demand full convergence, others reject external convergence completely and argue with different production costs. Polish Minister of Agriculture rejected this argument, according to him, all farmers purchase the same agricultural machinery and equipment at prices comparable throughout the EU, as well as active substances are produced by virtually only two companies, so farmers do not have access to cheaper options.

Ministers further discussed forestry and deforestation issues (here) - German Minister Julia Klöckner said that the European Union can no longer support the import of products whose production causes deforestation in other countries. Ministers also dealt with the issue of Minor Uses in the field of plant protection products (here); the funding of this instrument was generally supported by Ministers, some of them regretted that not all Member States were involved in the Minor Uses program.

Under the points A.O.B. Ministers also discussed the issue of mandatory labelling of the country of origin of food (here), the introduction of a mandatory system was supported by a number of Ministers. The Ministers of Agriculture unanimously adopted the Council conclusions on animal welfare (here) calling on the Commission to develop a new European strategy to protect and strengthen animal welfare. Available legislation should be updated in line with the latest scientific knowledge - especially in the long-distance transport of live animals.

The Council conclusions on food fraud have also been adopted (here) - the Council supported further steps to strengthen ways to prevent and eliminate fraudulent practices in the food chain, a high level of protection against fraudulent practices is part of the European objective of ensuring healthy and safe food and protecting the environment and consumers.

The ministers' discussion also showed:
Support for a single allocation of funds from the overall CAP envelope for climate and environmental measures: EE, PT, SP, LU, DK, CY, SL, DE, SE, CZ, ES;
Support for the allocation of funds under the various pillars of the CAP: AT, RO, IE;
Support for a maximum of 40% of the allocation of CAP funds for climate and environment: LV;
Support for the exclusion of small farmers from cross compliance: EE, HU, EL, BG, CY, MT;
Support for the mandatory introduction of eco-schemes: FR, SE, NL, DK;
Support for the voluntary introduction of eco-schemes: AT, HU, MT;
Support to maintain 15% for VCS payments: FR, HU, CY, CZ (support for further increase), BG, EL;
Support for voluntary capping: CZ, EE;
Capping support under the Finnish proposal (area payments only, over EUR 100.000, the possibility of deducting labour costs): AT, EE;
Support for external convergence: LV, RO, CZ, LT;
Refusal to achieve external convergence: DK, CY, BE, EL, IT, NL, SI;
Promotion of mandatory labelling of country of origin: BE, FR, PT, ES, HU (for certain commodities), PL, EL, DE, BG (for honey), CY, IT, SI, SK, SE;
Promoting of voluntary labelling of country of origin: DK, CZ;
Support for a strong CAP budget: BE, FR, AT, ES, HU;
Support for funding for Minor Uses in the field of plant protection products: FR, AT, EE, PT, ES, EL, DE, DK, CY, IT, SK, SE, IE, NL, LT;
Efforts to participate in the Minor Uses program in the following years: CZ;
Support of voluntary basis in the case of the definition of a genuine farmer: CZ.

Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski said that the coming year 2020 will be a crucial year - especially in the context of the need to negotiate the Multiannual Financial Framework, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, and the preparation of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy. Wojciechowski supported the provision of an adequate budget for the CAP in order to ensure better incomes and support for farmers, according to Wojciechowski, cohesion funds must also contribute to the development of rural areas.
More information is available here.

At its plenary session on 18/12/2019, the European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution on financial discipline as from financial year 2021 and flexibility between pillars in respect of calendar year 2020. This is the first part of the proposal for a transitional period concerning transfers between pillars, presented by the Commission on 31/10/2019; the rapporteur for the European Parliament's opinion was German MEP Norbert Lins (EPP). The approved section allows for continued payment of agricultural subsidies beyond 2019, even though the Multiannual Financial Framework and the CAP have not yet been negotiated; extends the current rules on flexibility between pillars until 2021; and allows the first part of the transitional rules to enter into force before the end of 2019. Parliament adopted the resolution by 637 votes to 27, with 20 abstentions.
More information is available here.

France, Germany and Spain published on 19/12/2019 a list of the main common priorities for the reform of the CAP after 2020. All three states agreed to support the new green architecture proposed by the European Commission, but also supported the Finnish Presidency's proposal, that 1% of the overall CAP envelope (not pillar envelopes) will be allocated to climate targets. Countries have also indicated that cross-compliance rules for farmers should be based on a common set of rules and requirements and should apply without exception to all farming systems; they also encouraged greater flexibility for Member States to implement eco-schemes. The CAP budget should be in line with the increasing environmental and climate protection requirements for farmers; they also expressed their support for policy simplification.
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Croatia will take over the Presidency of the EU Council from January 2020. According to the Presidency Work Plan, it should try to reach agreement on a transitional period for the CAP until June 2020. The Commission presented proposals for a transitional period on 31/10/2019, the first part has already been approved by the European Parliament, the second part of the proposal, which defines, inter alia, the actual length of the transitional period, should be adopted by the Council by June 2020, according to the HR plan. In the European Parliament, the rapporteur for this part of the report, Elsi Katainen (FI, Renew), also seeks an agreement by June 2020.
More information is available here.