News

On 12/12/2018, the representatives of the Council, EP and the Commission did not agree on the final form of the Unfair Commercial Practices (UCP) legislation once again. The extension of the scope of the directive according to the size of enterprises in the agro-food supply chain continues to be an issue. The European Commission has proposed that the directive should protect small and medium-sized producers, with a turnover of up to € 50 million. The Austrian Presidency has supported the maximum turnover threshold to be increased to € 100 to € 150 million, while the European Parliament initially advocated for the extension of the scope of the directive to all producers in the agri-food chain, and in early December, the EP supported limiting the turnover to € 1.25 billion. The Member States will be informed about the results at the extraordinary meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture on 17/12/2018 before the start of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. Negotiations will therefore continue in the new year, already under the RO Presidency (since 01/01/2019). The term of the next trilogue has not yet been established, the date is expected to be 16/01/2019.

Austria, within its Presidency of the Council of the EU ending on 31/12/2018 (subsequently taken over by the Romanian Presidency), has published a document on the current state of negotiations on the CAP in the EU Council. The document shows that AT PRES mostly regulated European Commission’s proposals on the CAP strategic plans, doing so in preparing its own position on the individual parts of the draft legislative package on the CAP (CAP Strategic plans, Horizontal issues, Common Market Organization). The ministers of agriculture particularly discussed the proposal for a new CAP implementation mechanism, which has generally been supported, but the proposal must be modified, according to the ministers, in order to make the introduction of the implementation mechanism more feasible. Ministers further demand changes to the proposed text for so-called indicators under the new CAP, in particular, they require an in-depth analysis of the indicators over the next few months. More information here.

The heads of agricultural NGOs from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have sent a letter together to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, calling for full external convergence of direct payments per hectare by 2027. In the letter, the representatives criticize the Commission's proposal to offset the level of direct payments according to 90% of the average, not according to the average of the level of direct payments in the EU, and demand a sufficient budget for the CAP in order to ensure achieving external convergence. More information is available here.

Ministers responsible for matters relating to European affairs discussed on 11/12/2018 during the General Affairs Council the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period after 2020. Negotiations took place in the light of two documents prepared under the leadership of the Austrian Presidency, namely the progress report and the draft of the procedure outline. The Council's draft of the procedure outline is a non-binding document prepared by the Austrian Presidency (AT PRES). According to this proposal, environmental and climate care should be taken into account in the overall EU budget as well as in the CAP budget - the overall budget should earmark 25% in order to contribute to the environmental and climate objectives, CAP then 40% of the budget. Under the proposal, the CAP must ensure access to safe, high quality and affordable food and must take into consideration the animal welfare requirements. In the case of external convergence, the ministers discussed three possible approaches, the ceiling on direct payments per hectare should be left to the discretion of the Member States according to the provisional version of the proposal, the Council also considers the abolition of climate and environmental regimes (so called eco- schemas) from potential casting. However, the discussion on these points is still ongoing, and the European Commission has called on the Member States to reach a MFF agreement by autumn 2019. More information is available here.

At the plenary session of the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg on 11/12/2018, the ambassadors of the Member States adopted the EP's position on the draft of the regulation on the transparency and sustainability of risk assessment in the food chain. A total of 427 lawmakers voted for the final report, 172 voted against and 77 abstained. The Regulation is intended to facilitate access for citizens to the scientific studies used in food safety decisions; to enhance transparency in the risk assessment process; and to ensure that the studies used in the product approval process for the market are reliable, objective and independent. EP rapporteur Renate Sommer (EPP, DE) has not supported the result of the vote and has decided to withdraw from the position of the rapporteur. Sommer disagreed with the EP's decision to impose an obligation on the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to publish product studies before they are marketed. According to Sommer, this obligation would entail a competitive advantage for non-EU producers. One possible candidate for a new rapporteur is Czech MEP Pavel Poc (S&D).

On 12/12/2018 in the framework of the COREPER I meeting, the ambassadors of the Member States agreed on the position of the Council. The so-called "general approach" will be formally adopted on 17/12/2018 by the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. The aim of the Council's general approach is to facilitate citizens' access to scientific studies used in food safety assessments and to improve the management and scientific results of EFSA. Next year, already under the Romanian presidency, trialogue between the EP, Commission and Council will launch, even before the EP elections (May 2019). More information available here.