News

The French government approved a proposal to reduce the number of wolves in the country to 500 individuals in an effort to balance the protection of these beasts and the protection of farm animals. Experts said that the population of wolves is likely to exceed 500 units in 2019. Due to the pressure of farmers, France has increased the permitted number of shot wolves from 10% in 2018 to 17% in 2019. The French government will also provide financial support for the acquisition of sheep dogs in areas where the increase in wolf numbers is expected.

Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said the trade agreement with Mercosur could be reached within a few months, ideally before the G20 Summit in Osaka in late June 2019. According to the EC, the final negotiations could take place in the week of 17/06 or 24/06, Mercosur countries could, according to the Commission, offer more concessions on geographical and customs issues, such as the rules of origin and geographical indications (GI's). The compromise agreement is being challenged by FR, which threatens to vote against the EU-Mercosur agreement if the EU makes more concessions on sensitive agricultural products such as beef, sugar, ethanol or poultry. For example, FR is in favour of lowering tariffs for some commodities to zero and on the contrary, safeguard mechanisms should be added in order to ensure product traceability and compliance with hygiene and environmental rules. PL and IE support this idea; IT is considering support as well.

On 21/05/2019, the European Commission approved, within the 36th wave of intervention sales, an offer to sell 925 tonnes of skimmed-milk powder (SMP) from intervention stocks at a minimum price of EUR 167,50/100 kg. The prices offered were between EUR 166.50/100 kg and EUR 173.00/100 kg, the offers came from ES, SK and UK. Since 13/12/2016, the Commission has approved the sale of a total of 394,463 tonnes of SMP, with 379,512 tonnes of SMP finally sold. There should now be around 162 tonnes of SMP in intervention stocks. The next tender will be held on 18/06/2019.
More information is available here.

EU Agriculture Ministers met at the EU Council on 14/05/2019, one of the main issues discussed was the Common Agricultural Policy post 2020, specifically the new CAP implementation mechanism. According to the European Commission, Member States should annually assess the implementation of national strategy plans, but representatives from a number of Member States support less frequent checks to reduce administrative burdens.

Emerged from the debate:
Support for maintaining an adequate budget: IE, ES, EE, CY, HU;
Fostering an agreement on MFF before a further real progress in CAP negotiations: ES, FR, AT, NL, EL, PL, HU;
Support for less frequent checks on the implementation of national strategic plans: FR, LV, AT, IT, PL, LT, EL, MT, SI, SK, EE, HU, DE, CZ, EE, LU;
Support of annual checks on the implementation of national strategic plans: ES, SE, FI, NL;
Fear of policy re-nationalization: FR, ES;
Simplification support: DE, PL, BE, SI, DK;
Promoting new green and digital technologies to achieve carbon neutrality: LV, IE, PL, BG, IT;
Promoting research and investment in human capital: BE, HU, FI, EE, BG;
Refusal to cut budget for the second Pillar in the context of enhanced climate and environmental protection requirements: PT, EE;
Support for afforestation in the context of strengthening carbon sequestration: UK, IE, PL, PT, HU, SI, SK, NL, ES.

Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan said that the National Strategic Plans should be evaluated annually to set concrete, credible, measurable and evaluable commitments. On the demand for adequate budgets, the Commissioner said that this decision is now in the hands of EU Member States' prime ministers.
Although representatives of the Romanian Presidency continue to seek to reach a partial general agreement in the Council on the CAP post 2020 by the end of June 2019, according to unofficial information, reaching a partial agreement under the Finnish Presidency that will start on 01/07/2019 is more likely. Similarly, the MFF agreement might not be reached in October 2019, but only in late 2019 or early 2020.
More information is available here.

On 16/05/2019, the Tribunal of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) recognized the Polish retail tax as legal. It thus repealed the European Commission's decision of 2017, which decided to suspend the collection of the tax approved by the Polish Parliament in 2016.
PL has decided to almost exempt from tax retail companies with an annual turnover of less than EUR 4 million, to implement a tax rate of 0.8% for companies with a turnover between EUR 4 million and EUR 40 million, and has increased the tax up to 1.4% for companies with the annual turnover of over EUR 40 million. In the course of the investigation, the Commission concluded that the tax constituted unlawful State aid to local retailers and classified it as discriminatory. However, according to the CJEU, the mere application of the tax rate does not imply the existence of a selective advantage in itself; the Commission therefore incorrectly classified the measure as State aid. A similar case of introducing taxes in the retail food sector is now being investigated by the Commission in Slovakia and Hungary.
More information is available here.