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Some 90% of respondents agreed or partially agreed that unfair trading practices (UTPs) exist, citing for example payment periods longer than 30 days for agri-food products and unilateral and retroactive changes to contracts. A majority of respondents also agreed that action needed to be taken to tackle unfair trading practices, and that the EU level was the most appropriate to do so, through legislation. The 1500+ responses to the consultation will feed into an impact assessment that will explore how to improve the fluidity and efficient functioning of the food supply chain. Based on the results of the current impact assessment, the European Commission expects to make legislative proposals on tackling unfair trading practices in the first half of 2018.

Prime Minister Theresa May failed to clinch a deal on Monday (4 December) to open talks on post-Brexit free trade with the European Union after a tentative deal with Dublin to keep EU rules in Northern Ireland angered her allies in Belfast. Yet as May and Juncker spoke in Brussels and the pound rose on prospects of free trade and perhaps a very “soft Brexit”, Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) issued an uncompromising reiteration of its refusal to accept any “divergence” from rules on the British mainland. Read more

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety informed that a for setting criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals in the field of pesticides will be discussed during the next meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed on 12 – 13 December. The EC’s previously proposed EDC criteria for pesticides were rejected by the European Parliament in October, forcing the EC to revise the legal text. Read more

Simpler rules and a more flexible approach will ensure the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) delivers real results in supporting farmers and leads the sustainable development of EU agriculture. These are the cornerstone ideas of the Communication adopted today by the European Commission on "The Future of Food and Farming", outlining the ways to ensure that the oldest EU common policy remains future-proof. Allowing Member States greater responsibilities to choose how and where to invest their CAP funding in order to meet ambitious common goals on environment, climate change and sustainability is the flagship initiative.

Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan will present tomorrow evening the keenly awaited communication on “The Future of Food and Farming” to AGRI Members, formally starting off the debate on the evolution of the CAP in coming years. The Commission had announced in its 2017 Annual Work Programme that it would "take forward work and consult widely on simplification and modernisation of the Common Agricultural Policy to maximise its contribution to the Commission's ten priorities and to the Sustainable Development Goals", focusing on specific policy priorities and taking into account the opinion of the Refit Platform.