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The European Commission has launched the calls for proposals for programmes to promote European agricultural products throughout the world and within the EU. A total of €169 million is available to co-finance the programmes, up from €142 million in 2017. Programmes can cover a wide range of issues from general campaigns on healthy eating to specific market sectors. Proposals should be submitted by 12 April 2018 via the dedicated portal. The Commission will assess the proposals and announce the beneficiaries in the autumn. More on EU policy on the promotion of agricultural product.

EU farm policy must be simplified, further improved and well financed to ensure fair living standards for EU farmers and food security for EU citizens. This was the main message of many speakers during the Thursday’s debate on how to reform the EU’s farming policy after 2020, which was held in the Parliament’s Agriculture committee with members of the Committee of Regions and of the European Economic and Social Committee. You can re-watch the whole debate here (starting at 10:39).

Lawmakers from three political families of the European Parliament reached on 10 January a compromise to cap the level of crop-based biofuels at the level that each member state reached in 2017 and “kill” palm oil as a transport fuel from 2021, EURACTIV.com has learnt. Read the original article

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker called today (8 January) for the EU-27 to pay more money into the bloc's joint long-term budget, after the UK leaves a gap in the common finances following Brexit. He also warned that the hole the UK punches in the post-2020 budget should not be filled in by substantially cutting existing EU policies such as cohesion funds or the common agriculture policy, which make up more than 50 percent of the budget. Read the original article

Six member states (France, Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Malta) that opposed the re-authorisation glyphosate sent a letter to the European Commission last month asking the EU executive to conduct a study and look into alternatives to the controversial substance. Read the original article