News

Impossible Foods Company from the United States, one of the leading producers of vegetarian and vegan meat substitutes on the local market, is now working to ensure access to its products and to the European market. According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the company has already submitted an application to market soybean leghaemoglobin, a molecule made from genetically modified yeast. Soybean leghaemoglobin is a substance that ensures real meat taste in foods of plant origin. However, the process of component approval can be lengthy, as the regulation of GM products is much stricter in the EU than in the US.

Commissioner for Public Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis called on 23/10/2019 to step up activities against antimicrobial resistance. The European Commission has adopted an action plan "One health" against antimicrobial resistance; the action plan should be implemented by 2022. According to Andriukaitis, the Commission now needs to prepare around 25 implementing and delegated acts to ensure effective implementation of the action plan, Member States will to ensure the correct and effective implementation of the new rules. The European Commission will prepare three databases for the implementation of the rules, focusing on veterinary medical products, pharmacovigilance (pharmaceutical safety) and processing and distribution.
More information is available here.

The European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA) is likely to support the draft trade agreement on quotas for imports into the EU of poultry meat from Ukraine. The rapporteur for the opinion of the Committee Enikő Győri (HU, EPP) stated that she would recommend to the Committee the approval of an agreement which should increase the import quotas for chicken breast from Ukraine by 50.000 tonnes. The EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is also likely to support the conclusion of a trade agreement, but will require the introduction of specific safeguards to allow temporary suspension or reduction of tariff preferences in case of disruption of sensitive agricultural market sectors.
Draft opinion of the INTA Committee is available here, AGRI here.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 19/10/2019 failed to convince the Parliament of Great Britain to agree to the agreement on Britain's departure from the EU. As a result of the vote by 322 votes to 306, Boris Johnson was forced to ask the EU to extend membership until 31/01/2020. With a view to reducing the risk of leaving without agreement, Donald Tusk, President of the Council, recommended the EU-27 to accept an application for extension, and Member States' ambassadors approved the extension of membership on 25/10/2019. According to the ambassadors of the Member States, Britain's EU membership should be renewed, but no agreement has been reached on a specific date for Brexit - France refused to support the extension of UK membership until the end of January 2020, other Member States agreed to the principle on a specific date. Another possible step for Boris Johnson could be to attempt early elections on 12/12/2019. The EU-27 Member States should decide on the date for Britain's withdrawal from the EU on 28-29/10/2019.

On 22/10/2019, the European Parliament approved a proposal for a Regulation to provide Britain with EU funds for 2020 in the event of a departure scenario without an agreement and provided that Britain continues to pay its contributions and accept the necessary controls and audits. The proposal was supported by 543 votes to 30, with 46 abstentions.
More information is available here.

On 14/10/2019, a coalition of 17 EU Member States, represented by the Ministers of Agriculture, supported the maintenance of the budget for the Common Agricultural Policy during the Council of Ministers; the coalition rejected the European Commission's proposals to cut the budget. According to AT, BG, CY, CZ, EE, FR, HU, GR, IE, LV, LT, LU, PL, PT, RO, SI and ES, the budget should be maintained for the next programming period at current prices for the current level of the CAP budget for the EU-27. The coalition's position during the Council of Ministers was further supported by SI, HR and BE. Finland is proposing to strengthen the proposed budget for the CAP under its Presidency, according to FI, the CAP should not represent 28.6% of the EU budget as proposed by the Commission, but rather 30.5 to 30.9% of the EU budget. Representatives of the European institutions stressed that, although this is an important signal, it is not the position of the prime ministers of the Member States. As a result, it will be them who will decide on the EU budget; the opinion of the Ministers of Agriculture is not necessarily in line with the opinion of the Prime Ministers. Irish Minister of Agriculture Michael Creed said that cutting the CAP budget could have a negative impact on the environmental measures introduced under the CAP. The Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, in response to the opinion of the 17 Ministers of Agriculture, supported the Commission's proposal to cut the budget, the draft was drawn up, according to Hogan, given the lack of funds in the EU budget in connection with the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
More information is available here.