News




The European Commission has published a draft CAP budget for 2020

On 05/06/2019, the European Commission published a draft budget for 2020, with EUR 43.5 billion (in commitments) foreseen for the first pillar of the CAP, which is EUR 340 million more than in 2019. Payments in the I. pillar should be around EUR 44.1 million, which would mean a reduction of EUR 93 million compared to 2019. Unused funds from the 2019 crisis reserve - EUR 468.7 million in total - will be transferred to the 2020 budget. For the second pillar, EUR 14.7 billion in commitments and EUR 13 billion in payments are earmarked.

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France will support mandatory use of NutriScore labelling system in the entire EU

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on 12/06/2019 that France would support mandatory food labelling NutriScore in all EU Member States. Philippe said that France's representatives will fight for compulsory introduction in the negotiations with the Commission and other relevant partakers in the EU. NutriScore uses a semaphore-like colour scheme to warn consumers about the sugar, salt, or saturated fat content in foods through a green to red colour scale. Belgium, Portugal and Spain also supported the introduction of this type of labelling, and a citizens' initiative was launched in April in order to collect a million signatures of EU citizens from at least 7 Member States in a one-year effort to promote NutriScore mandatory labelling. On the contrary, for example Italy is opposed to the mandatory introduction due to concerns about the negative impact of the labelling on the production of Italian cheese with a higher fat content or on the production of olive oil.

Beer producers plan to make an agreement concerning indication of calories and lists of ingredients on beer labels

The Brewers of Europe Organisation, representing 90% of European breweries, said that the European brewing industry would commit itself to indicating the number of calories and the list of ingredients on beer labels by 2022 at the latest. The agreement with the European Commission should be signed in September 2019. Currently, there are about 60% of beers with indicated calories and 85% of beers with listed ingredients. Brewers of Europe are working with cider producers to join the deal.

Nestlé plans to publish information about the different composition of products online

In the context of the planned adoption of the Consumer Package, which also includes the issue of dual quality food in the EU, Nestlé representatives said that they do not intend to change the actual composition of the products, nor do they intend to provide information on different compositions directly on food labels. However, according to the representatives, Nestlé should provide information on the composition of the products for all foods online.

The EU Council has formally adopted a proposal for a regulation on the transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment system

On 13/06/2019, the EU Council formally adopted a proposal by the EP and the Council for a regulation on the transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment system. The reform of the so-called EU General Food Law will affect all sectors in the agro-food industry. Companies producing pesticides, genetically modified foods, additives or food flavourings will have to publish scientific studies that they submit to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) during the approval process, in order to raise EU citizens' awareness and confidence in the risk assessment system. The regulation will now be published in the Official Journal of the EU; most of the measures will enter into force at the end of March 2021.