News

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) published a report on the detection, resolution and reporting of conflicts of interest in agriculture on 13/03/2023. The ECA found that the existing framework for preventing and managing conflicts of interest in the EU does not sufficiently include the promotion of transparency and disclosure of risky situations. ECA calls for an improvement in the overview of the use of funds to increase transparency in possible situations of conflict of interest.
More information is available here.

Foundation Earth has published its own draft method for assessing the environmental footprint of food to increase transparency and accessibility of information provided to consumers. The method builds on the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) labelling developed by the European Commission, adds the ability to compare the environmental footprint of products from different food chains and harmonises the interpretation of all 16 environmental impact indicators. The organisation aims to harmonise environmental labelling of food across the EU and UK.
More information is available here.

On 09/11/2022, the European Commission presented a new Commission Communication on the availability and affordability of fertilisers to help address the current crisis in the European fertiliser market. In the Communication, the Commission announced its intention to set up an Observatory to monitor the fertiliser market situation in the EU. In the past week, the European Commission has advanced preparations for the launch of the new Observatory, launching a call for applications for experts interested in participating in the Observatory. The call for applications is open until 04/04/2023 and the observatory is expected to start operating in the first half of 2023.
More information is available here.

Negotiations on the trade agreement with Mercosur are continuing, with missions by the Commission and some EU Member States to the Mercosur countries currently underway. Germany supports the conclusion of the agreement, with the German engineering industry in particular pushing for it. However, German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir stresses that a future agreement must also consider climate and food security commitments and food safety. France is opposed to the agreement, and there are also critical voices from the Netherlands. The Netherlands supported the agreement, but the current parliament has officially called on The Hague to withdraw its support for the agreement. The EU's negotiations with the Mercosur bloc have so far failed to deliver the desired results in terms of strengthening environmental ambitions. Mercosur has so far not responded positively to the EU's demands on climate commitments, which Mercosur believes are too tough, ambitious and unbalanced.

The agreement allowing the export of agricultural products from Black Sea ports was extended on 18/03/2023. However, information on the length of the extension varies. According to Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, it is 120 days, Russia supported first only 60 days, then 90 days. He justifies the shortening of the deadline for the deal by the impact of Western sanctions on Russian food and fertiliser exports, despite the UN's commitment in July 2022 to help facilitate Russian food and fertiliser exports for three years. According to Russia, this side of the agreement has not been kept. The original Black Sea Grain Initiative agreement expired on 18/03/2023.
More information is available here.