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The European Commission approved on 27/03/2019 a total of EUR 250 million of national allocations under the Milk and Fruit Schemes for school year 2018/2019. Some EUR 145 million is spent on fruit and vegetable consumption, EUR 105 million on milk and dairy products consumption. A total of EUR 5.8 million is earmarked for the Czech Republic, EUR 3.97 million for fruit and vegetables, and EUR 1.83 million for milk and milk products.
More information is available here.

Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) discussed on 18/03/2019 the EP's draft reports on parts of the CAP legislative package after 2020. According to the rapporteur on the CAP Strategic Plans report, Esther Herranz García (EPP, ES), COMAGRI has reached agreement on the technical aspects of the report, but the issues of mandatory capping and distribution of envelopes for the first and second pillar are still to be resolved. The rapporteur on the CMO report, Eric Andrieu (S&D, FR), said that his draft report was finalized and ready for voting, but he added that the CAP needs to introduce a model that would help shift support from large farmers towards the small ones effectively. However, according to Andrieu, the current proposal by Esther Herranz García does not meet this requirement.

According to the latest unofficial information, as for the real farmer, Esther Herranz García is in the compromise proposals inclined to mandatory implementation of the active, not real, farmer's definition. No support should be granted to those whose agricultural activity is only an insignificant part of their overall economic activity. According to preliminary proposals, Member States could exclude from this definition those individuals or companies which process large-scale agricultural products, with the exception of groups of farmers (agricultural cooperatives). Member States should do the capping on 100 % of the direct payments above EUR 100,000, and then they could deduct a maximum of 50 % of staff costs from the capped amount on voluntary basis, real costs should be used for calculation, not average costs. Capping should apply to all direct payments, with the exception of eco-schemes and support for young farmers. If a Member State decides to allocate at least 10 % to redistributive payments, it could decide not to implement the mandatory capping of direct payments over EUR 100,000. On the distribution of the envelope for the first pillar, COMAGRI proposes to allocate at least 60 % of the first pillar envelope to basic income support for sustainability; at least 5 % for redistributive payments; at least 20 % for eco-schemes; 2 % for support for young farmers; and voluntarily, a maximum of 10 + 2 % for coupled support.

However, alternative compromise proposals to those by Esther Herranz García (above) have been presented from representatives of the Greens and GUE/NGL political groups who are also members of the COMAGRI Committee. As for the definition of a real/active farmer, these factions are in line with the EPP and Esther Herranz García’s position. However, as for capping, the Greens and GUE/NGL factions propose to cap mandatorily 100 % of direct payments over EUR 60,000, Member States could then deduct a maximum of 50 % of staff costs from the capped amount on a voluntary basis and average costs should be used for calculation. Capping should apply to all direct payments, with the exception of eco-schemes and support for young farmers. However, this proposal does not allow the implementation of mandatory capping to be abandoned under any circumstances. On the distribution of the envelope for the first pillar, representatives of the Greens and GUE/NGL in COMAGRI propose to allocate at least 10 % to redistributive payments; at least 30 % for eco-schemes; 2 % for support for young farmers; and voluntarily, a maximum of 8 + 2 % for coupled support. They do not set the allocations for basic income support for sustainability.

As a part of the vote on the strategic plans of the CAP, the proposal by Albert Deß (EPP, DE) will also be voted on; this proposes to reject the entire Commission’s legislative proposal to the CAP.

COMAGRI Committee has confirmed the deadline for voting on drafts of the post 2020 CAP reports - the CMO will be voted on 01/04/2019, the CAP Strategic Plans on 02/04/2019, horizontal issues on 08/04/2019. The European Parliament will close on 18/04/2019; the EP elections will take place between 23-26/05/2019.

EU Agriculture Ministers at the Council of Ministers on 18/03/2019 discussed the common agricultural policy, food safety in the meat sector, bioeconomics (here), and plant breeding techniques (here).

Agriculture ministers reiterated the uncertainties in the negotiations on the CAP in the context of the ongoing and still open negotiations on the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework, and thus the lack of knowledge of the CAP budget. ES, FR, IE, PL, DE, DK, HU and LT ministers supported the modest subduing of the CAP negotiations until agreement on the budget was reached. However, according to Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan, reaching a general agreement by the end of the Romanian Presidency is still possible, given that agriculture ministers have not decided to end the CAP debate completely, the CAP will be one of the themes in the next four sessions of the Council of Ministers planned to take place before the start of summer holidays.

The Ministers of Agriculture expressed their support for the Progress Report of the RO Presidency (RO PRES). According to this report, Member States support keeping the definition of permanent grassland under the Omnibus Regulation; they support the implementation of a real farmer definition on a voluntary basis by Member States; and support the continuation of the debate on the reduction of direct payments, with deductions for staff costs being voluntary, as well as the additional redistributive income support.

Further outcomes of the discussion are as follows:

Support for maintaining the current level of the CAP budget after 2020: PT, FR, PL, CY, EL, IE;
Support for the definition of permanent grassland as stated in the Omnibus Regulation: CZ, HR, IE, LU, HU, BG, LT, EL, ES, FI, CY;
Support for the definition of permanent grassland as proposed by the Commission: LV, DK, SK, AT, PT;
Support for the voluntary implementation of a real farmer definition: IE, CY, DK, HR;
Support for at least the harmonization of the rules for the definition of a real farmer: ES;
Support for the removal of the EUR 2,000 limit in the event of a crisis reserve: FI, SE, FR, EE, CZ, DE, NL, DK, LU, SK;
Support for maintaining the EUR 2,000 limit in the event of a crisis reserve: SI, AT, HR, CY, MT, LT, HU, IT, EL;
Support for Mandatory capping: IE, BE;
Support for voluntary capping: DE, CZ, CY, FI, BG;
Support for the exclusion of eco-schemes and support for young farmers from direct payments capping: IE, NL, CZ, EE, HU;
Support for potential capping only on basic income support for sustainability: SK, CY.
More information is available here.

On 13/03/2019, the European Parliament adopted a non-binding EP resolution on air pollution during the plenary session. MEPs call, among other things, for the future funding of the CAP to be accompanied by mandatory measures to reduce pollutant emissions; that legislators will incorporate into the future CAP, in the interest of all Union citizens, measures enabling farmers to reduce overall pollutant emissions in agriculture; and that CAP reform is will serve as an opportunity to combat air pollution from the agricultural sector. The resolution is based on the statement that existing food and farming systems are responsible for excessive emissions of ammonia, nitrous oxide and methane; that 94 % of ammonia emissions and 40 % of methane emissions come from agricultural activities; and that intensive livestock farming on a global scale produces more greenhouse gas emissions than transport. The resolution was adopted by 446 votes in favour, 146 against, 79 abstentions.
More information is available here.

Representatives of non-governmental environmental organizations BirdLife Europe, the European Environmental Bureau and the Slow Food movement called in a letter to the ministers of agriculture of EU Member States on enhancing the environmental ambitions of the CAP after 2020. According to the environmental NGOs representatives, the EU Council is currently turning away from environmentally ambitious proposals of the European Commission from June 2018 (which is still considered weak in the eyes of environmental NGOs). The new CAP should be able, in budgetary terms, to strengthen funding for environmental and climate measures, provide a specific budget for biodiversity conservation, and are able to ensure that environmentally harmful substances are not used.