News

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.
More information is available here.

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.

Last week, a coalition of 30 environmental NGOs published their own priorities for the forthcoming Farm to Fork Strategy, which should be part of the new European Green Deal. According to environmental organizations, the European Union should set clear and ambitious goals for a coherent long-term vision of the European food system; the European Green Deal does not yet reflect the situation sufficiently and does not lead to the necessary changes. According to these organizations, the CAP must be closely linked to the Farm to Fork Strategy. Representatives are calling for clear targets for reducing greenhouse gas production from agriculture, achieving zero soil degradation by 2030, or reversing the trend of biodiversity decline.
More information is available here.

The Italian Government has repeatedly opposed the introduction of the NutriScore food labelling scheme, which could have a negative impact on Italian olive oil and cheese production due to the higher fat content of these foods. Italy is therefore ready to present an alternative nutrition labelling scheme to enhance consumer information and education. Italy will endeavour to implement its system throughout the EU. The Italian system should be based on the recommended daily intake, indicating how much of the recommended daily intake one serving of the food (recommended serving) is.
More information is available here.