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The Ministers of Agriculture of France, Germany and Poland met on 07/10/2019 to discuss the Common Agricultural Policy. According to them, the CAP must remain one of the key European policies, ensuring adequate funding to help meet the environmental and climate objectives and to ensure the economic viability of farms and rural areas. The CAP must be a market-oriented policy, but imports from third countries should meet the requirements of EU production. According to FR, DE and PL, a key aspect of rural development should be to support the development of small and family farms.

The Committees of the European Parliament for Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) and of the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) discuss internally the way forward for an opinion on the CAP Strategic Plans. According to COMAGRI chairman Norbert Lins (EPP, DE), the most discussed topics are likely to be eco-schemes (climate and environmental schemes). According to Lins, both committees are able to reach a compromise on carbon storage in the soil, but according to Lins, the compromise on biodiversity will be among the most complicated. According to COMENVI, CAP objectives should no longer include the production of biofuels, the emphasis on soil quality should be strengthened, the reduction of pesticide use should be promoted, and the decline in biodiversity should be stopped. Lins said he intends to discuss all COMENVI proposals. The future of the EP opinions on the CAP Strategic Plans has not yet been decided, according to information from Europe's largest agricultural organization, Copa and Cogeca, will not be decided before November 2019.

Frans Timmermans, candidate for the post of Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, who should be responsible for the implementation of the European Green Deal, attended a public hearing in the European Parliament on 08/10/2019. He confirmed the commitment of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to submit a proposal for a climate package aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 within 100 days of taking up the mandates (which should be 01/11/2019). By 2030, emissions should be reduced by at least 50%, preferably 55%, and an ambitious biodiversity strategy with targets for 2030 should also be presented. Timmermans says European directives and regulations should be revised environment and climate devote. Copa and Cogeca, Europe's largest agricultural organization, sent a letter to Timmermans in response to the Commission's commitments on carbon neutrality. According to Copa and Cogeca, farmers are always the first to feel the effects of climate change and have to face the rising costs of adapting and mitigating climate change. In the transition to a carbon-neutral economy, Copa and Cogeca said it will be essential to propose sustainable policies and programs that will be available to farmers and cooperatives throughout the transition, recognizing the importance of existing instruments. In addition, the European Green Agreement should include a new forest strategy.

French Environment Minister Brune Poirson called for a new European regulation on deforestation, thus becoming the first Environment Minister within the current Council of Environment Ministers to adopt a similar position. The Regulation should include a number of instruments, including a ban on all public procurement that could concern products whose production in some countries causes deforestation. In-depth control of the entire supply chain should also be carried out to ensure that all production on the EU market is traceable and sustainable.

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has published an annual report on the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2018 on 08/10/2019. According to the ECA, the error rate for drawing CAP funds is still 2.4% (material error rate), mainly in the second pillar - according to the ECA, for EAGF direct payments, accounting for 72% of the expenditure assessed, the error rate was not significant. Ineligible beneficiaries, activities or costs declared and the provision of inaccurate information on areas or animals account for more than half of the estimated error rate under this heading.
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