News

The AGRI Committee discussed during its last meeting on 30 and 31 August several topics where the Brexit issues was reflected. Especially this was the case for the reports on trade negotiations (in this case of Australia, New Zealand and import of honey from China) and consumer information and protection (again import of honey from China and food safety – in this case of measures against the contamination of eggs products with fipronil). Brexit and specific trade arrangements are seen by many MEPs as a possible gateway to the European market, without full recognition of the EU standards for the food and consumer protection.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on how to make the EU food supply chain fairer with the aim of introducing EU-wide measures, if needed, to regulate unfair trading practices with respect to agri-food products. Farmers, citizens and other interested parties are invited to share their views on the functioning of the food supply chain through an online consultation that runs until 17 November. The public consultation is available here.

Customs authorities detained more than 41 million fake and counterfeit products at the EU's external border in 2016 with a value of more than €670m. Read more.

Faced with a financial hole of €853 million for organic and mountain areas farming, France’s Agriculture Minister Stéphane Travert decided to review the allocation of funds under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2018-2020. France notified the European Commission yesterday (1 August) that it would transfer 4.2% of the funds from the direct payments pillar to the second pillar of rural development in order to support young farmers, organic production and farming in mountainous areas. Read more.

The wrangle over re-authorising the pesticide active agent glyphosate goes on and on. Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, from the European Health and Food Safety Commission, has stated that this active agent will be approved for a further 10 years only with the agreement of member states. Member states mull glyphosate decision ahead of September 1 deadline. Read more about glyphosate on the Commission's website