News

Environment MEPs have called on Parliament to veto an EU Commission proposal to exempt some chemicals from the scope of criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors in pesticides. MEPs say in a resolution voted on Thursday that the Commission has exceeded its mandate by proposing to exempt some substances, such as pesticides deliberately designed to attack a target organism’s endocrine system, from the scope of scientific criteria for identifying endocrine disrupters.

French President Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision for Europe in a major speech at the Sorbonne yesterday (26 September). Macron revealed a dozen or so proposals on the future of the EU. He also called for a revision of the Common Agricultural Policy in order to bring about a significant agricultural transition. The full speech (in French) is here, the official English summary here.

Member states have agreed today (26 September) to consider appointing a single food safety officer to improve communications in the case of food contamination. The ministers adopted a declaration, which said the commission should develop a "management plan for food and feed incidents" and to define "the criteria when the coordination at EU level should be triggered by member states". Read more.

As announced by President Juncker in this year's State of the Union speech, the Commission issued today (September 26) a set of guidelines on the application of EU food and consumer laws to dual quality products. The guidelines should help national authorities to determine whether a company is breaking EU laws when selling products of dual quality in different countries. More information on the Commission's website here.

Brexit Secretary David Davis will lead the UK team of negotiators into their fourth round of talks with EU officials in Brussels today (25 September). EU negotiators will be expecting more detail on, for example, what payments the UK is prepared to make as it departs.