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Pascal Canfin (Renew Europe, FR), Chair of the EP Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, urged the Chairman of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development Norbert Lins (EPP, DE) to reach balanced compromises in the opinions of both Committees on the Common Agricultural Policy post 2020. The committees are now debating how to deal with the opinions on the CAP Strategic Plans that they approved in the first half of this year. Environment Committee (COMENVI) haven’t reopened the debate about its opinion yet, the Committee on Agriculture (COMAGRI) adopted on 04/09/2019 the draft of the agricultural coordinators factions to continue negotiations on the CAP on the basis of already adopted opinion in April 2019.

Thus, according to COMAGRI President Norbert Lins, work on the opinion will not have to be resumed from the beginning, but some parts of the opinion are likely to be reopened in order to allow new MEPs to take part in shaping such a fundamental reform. A new rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs will also be selected, probably in the second half of September. Pascal Canfin said in his letter that COMAGRI's opinion did not take sufficient account of COMENVI's comments and therefore calls on COMAGRI to complete certain positions and reach a more balanced compromise. According to COMENVI, in particular cross-compliance requirements should be strengthened, support for biofuels and pesticides should be phased out, and eco-schemes should be further developed. According to unofficial information, Articles 15 (capping of direct payments), 28 (eco-schemes) and 86 (allocations for the Pillar I and II measures, including coupled support) could be reopened. The debate could also be relaunched on the requirements for achieving external convergence of direct payments.

The agricultural coordinators' proposal adopted by COMAGRI on 04/09/2019 will now be forwarded to the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament, the chairmen of the various EP Committees. The Conference of Presidents should decide on 19/09/2019 whether to pass the COMAGRI opinion directly to the EP plenary or to continue with modifying the opinion within COMAGRI. If the Conference of Presidents decided to refer an opinion directly to the vote in plenary, a request from one or more political factions or at least 38 MEPs would suffice to block the adoption of the opinion and return it to the Committee for revision.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will present on 10/09/2019 a proposal to fill individual posts within the European Commission with the newly nominated Commissioners-designate (here). Last week, Leyen received nominations from all Member States, including Italy, where Italian MEP Paolo de Castro (S&D) also unsuccessfully sought nominations. The only country that has refused to nominate a candidate is the United Kingdom - the UK Prime Minister, in communication with the President of the Commission, has the assurance that the UK will leave the EU on 31/10/2019. As early as early September, Ursula von der Leyen stated that she would support Poland's interest in gaining the post of Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, so that Phil Hogan (IE) could be replaced by Janusz Wojciechowski. However, Wojciechowski is now being investigated by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), according to German media, for irregularities in reimbursement of travel expenses from 2004-2014, when Wojciechowski served as Polish MEP. Wojciechowski said he had already reimbursed EUR 11,250 on his own initiative for under-documented travel costs in 2009-2011. However, according to the German media, OLAF examines the expenditure for the entire 2004-2014 period, with the transactions examined in five-digit figures. The current Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, continues to pursue the post of Commissioner for Trade, according to some representatives of the European institutions, his chances are relatively high, around 80%. The new Commissioners should take up their mandates on 01/11/2019.

The European Beer Producers' Representatives (Brewers of Europe) pledged on 05/09/2019 to provide information on the calorific value of beer on bottle labels from 2022 onwards. Producers have committed to displaying the energy value of beer either in calories per 100 millilitres, or listing all seven nutritional categories including carbohydrates, fats, fibre and protein. Producers may also decide to provide additional nutritional information outside the label (using, for example, QR codes), or to provide information that is valid for a single portion.
More information is available here.

Last week, Dutch Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten said that she will seek to ban the transport of live animals if outside temperatures reach 35°C and above. Transport under these conditions should be prohibited by national legislation, which will only be applicable in the Netherlands. According to Schouten, during transport to the slaughterhouse, about 30 to 40% of the poultry transported had died due to high outdoor temperatures, in one case the mortality rate was even at 90%. The Dutch Minister welcomed the European Commission's call on Member States to introduce a ban on the transport of live animals if outside temperatures exceed 30°C. According to Schouten, this restriction should be included in the transport regulation in order to ensure its legal basis.

Austria informed the European Commission of its intention to impose a total ban on the use of glyphosate by 2022, becoming the first EU country to ban this controversial active substance. The decision, which was voted on by the Austrian Parliament in July 2019, must now be addressed by the EC and other EU Member States within the next 3 months. Like Austria, France is also planning to ban the use of glyphosate during 2022. German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze announced on 04/09/2019 plans to introduce a ban on the use of glyphosate by the end of 2023, the ban should be part of a comprehensive plan to stop mass extinction of insects and pollinators. Prior to the final ban, the use of plant protection products containing glyphosate in Germany will be significantly reduced from 2020 onwards. Dietrich Pradt, CEO of the Association of Agricultural Industry (IVA), considers the national ban to be a disadvantage for German farmers if the ban is not applied in other EU Member States. EU licenses for the use of glyphosate will expire at the end of 2022, before which EU Member States will discuss the possible renewal of the license.
More information is available here.