News

On 24/04/2019, the European Commission adopted industrial trans fats regulation (except trans fats naturally occurring in fats of animal origin) in which new limits applicable to these trans fats are established. Food sold in the EU will have to contain a maximum of 2% of industrial trans fats from April 2021 onwards, the limits apply to end consumer food and food for retail sale. The new rules were already approved by Member States representatives in December 2018, with neither the European Parliament nor the Council of the EU opposing their final adoption. A number of Member States, including Denmark, Austria and Hungary, have already adopted their own industrial trans fats limits.

The regulation is available here.

FoodDrinkEurope, representing Europe’s food and drink industry, welcomed the setting of industrial trans fats limits in foods in the EU. According to FoodDrinkEurope, most of the producers have already eliminated industrial trans fats, and according to a statement by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2004, the content of these trans fats has not been assessed as a health threat.
FoodDrinkEurope’s statement is available here.

President of the Romanian Social Democrats (PSD) and, at the same time, the President of the Chamber of Deputies Liviu Dragnea, supported the introduction of a new legislation that would penalize all food companies that supply Romania with products of different (lower) quality than they do to their own country markets. In violation of these rules, he proposes a fine and a ban on sales in Romania. According to Dragnea, Romania is not a country that must accept all goods, regardless of its quality.
More information is available here.

A group of more than 100 MEPs across political factions calls on the European Commission to oblige EU Member States to adopt rules for assessing the harmfulness of pesticides for all pollinators. The approved compromise proposal, so-called Bee Guidance document will be voted on at the EC Standing Committee on Plants for Animals, Food and Feed (SCOPAFF) on 20-21/05/2019. According to Belgian MEP Bart Staes (Greens), the EC’s draft document excludes the assessment of chronic toxicity and risk for the group of pollinators, evaluation of which was a key factor leading to the EC's decision to ban the use of 3 neonicotinoids in open space. MEPs want the full text to be adopted so that all pesticides are tested, especially with regard to pollinator toxicity. According to food safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, the EC plan would not weaken bee protection and it would include toxicity tests specifically for honeybees. Conversely, pesticide risk assessments for wild bees and larvae should be excluded, as should for other pollinators.
More information is available here.

On 15/04/2019, EU Agriculture Ministers discussed at the Council of Ministers the new green CAP architecture after 2020, focusing on enhanced conditionality, climate and environment regimes, and interventions under rural development programs. The ministers also discussed the development of the sugar, pork and beef markets situation and deforestation issues (see here). Ministers of Bulgaria, Czechia, Poland and Slovakia presented a joint declaration on Renewable Energy Sources (RES) after 2020 (see here). RES declaration has been prepared by the SK delegation, according to which biofuels play an irreplaceable role in achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets; EU RES objectives should be pursued primarily through EU production rather than third country production. In addition, first-generation biofuel production is helping to boost EU self-sufficiency in protein feed production, according to the declaration.

The ministerial debate on the CAP was based on the Council's discussion paper (available here). Ministers supported strengthening the environmental and climate ambitions of the CAP after 2020. However, according to the Council's discussion paper, many ministers expressed doubts as to whether the Commission's proposals for a new enhanced conditionality would be contrary to the Commission's efforts to simplify the CAP. According to a number of ministers, Member States should decide voluntarily whether to propose eco-schemes or not (as proposed by the Commission, eco-schemes should be mandatorily proposed by the Member States, their implementation should be voluntary for farmers - they should serve as motivation for those farmers, who voluntarily decide to strengthen their ambitions on environmental and climate protection beyond mandatory minimum requirements).

During a press conference, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, said that the European Commission will assess whether climate and environmental schemes (eco-schemes) should be excluded from capping. In a proposal submitted in June 2018, the European Commission proposed to cap all direct payments, in addition to area payments, redistributive payments, eco-schemes, coupled support, or support for young farmers. However, according to the Commissioner, representatives of Greece, Czechia and Slovakia said at the Council of Ministers on 15/04/2019 that inclusion of eco-schemes in the capping would be counterproductive - many farmers could choose not to use eco-schemes. According to the Commissioner, the Commission will therefore assess whether the capping of eco-schemes could indeed be counterproductive and will eventually incline to not including eco-schemes in capping. Conversely, the exclusion of small farmers from the conditionality rules would, according to the Commissioner, is contrary to the objective to strengthen environmental and climate ambitions.

From the Agriculture Ministers' discussion:

Under the new CAP, not only the environmental but also of the economic aspect of the CAP must be taken into account: IE, IT, FI;
Support to ensure a strong CAP budget: IE, SK, DE, CZ, PT, LT, CY, PL, FR, HU, AT (!);
Conditionality should not apply to small farmers: IT, PT, LT, EE, CY, LV, HR, MT, BG, HU, GR;
Conditionality should apply to all farmers: IE, SK, CZ, SI, FR, NL, DK, LU, BE;
Eco-schemes should be mandatory for Member States: IE, ES, PT, CY, LV, FR, NL, DK, LU;
Member States should have, in the case of eco-schemes, as much flexibility as possible (or support of Member States voluntariness): SK, CZ, IT, SI, LT, EE, PL, FI, HR, MT, HU, SE, BE;
Eco-schemes should not be included in the capping: SK, CZ, PT, DE, SI, GR;
At least 30% of the envelope for the second pillar should be earmarked for AEKO measures: IE, SK, ES, DE, CZ, IT, PT, SI, LT, EE, CY, PL, DK, AT, HR, MT, BG, HU, SE, LU, BE;
ANC payments should be included in AEKO measures: ES, IT, PT, SI, LT, CY, LV, PL, FR, FI, AT, HR, MT, BG, HU, LU;
Support for excluding ANC payments from AEKO measures: EE.

As part of its presidency, Romania plans to reach a partial agreement in the Council of the EU; ministers will still meet twice within the Romanian Presidency. The European Parliament adopted positions of the EP Committee on the Environment and the EP Committee on Agriculture, Parliament will vote on its position in plenary only after the May EP elections. The vote will take place not earlier than autumn 2019.
More information about the Council of Ministers is available here.

On 17/04/2019, Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš supported the achievement of external convergence of direct payments by 2027 in discussions with Members of the European Parliament. According to Kariņš, all EU farmers operate on one market, but the amount of subsidies paid per hectare varies significantly between Member States. This also affects the competitiveness of farmers in the EU market, with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia receiving the least subsidies.