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The European citizens' initiative called ‘Save bees and farmers!’ has received more than one million (1,054,973) valid signatures as of 10/10/2022, the initiative calls on the European Commission to develop a proposal to reduce the use of synthetic pesticides by 80% by 2030 and their complete abolition by 2035, restoring biodiversity while supporting farmers in the transition to more sustainable practices. The European Commission must react to initiatives that are evaluated as successful, i.e., those that reach at least one million signatures of citizens from at least seven EU Member States within twelve months. More than 140 environmental NGOs, farmers and beekeepers, charitable foundations and scientific institutions from across the EU participated in the initiative. The most signatures (81,203) were obtained by the initiative Save bees and farmers! in Belgium. The European Commission now officially has a deadline to respond to what measures (if any) it will take following the initiative, the Commission must comment by 07/04/2023.
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The European Commission plans to increase the maximum ceilings of state aid in the proposal to extend and change the temporary crisis framework in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The current framework allows the payment of state aid up to €62,000 per enterprise without the need for prior approval by the Commission. The Commission proposes to increase the ceiling by 50% to €93,000 by 2023. Compared to other sectors, the state aid ceiling for agriculture has a basis increased by €20,000-25,000, the total maximum amount would thus reach €113,000-118,000 per agricultural enterprise after the approval of the proposal. The council will discuss the proposal at a meeting on 17-18/10/2022.
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The German government is currently preparing a legislative proposal that should extend the already existing rules for marking the country of origin of packaged meat to include unpackaged fresh, chilled or frozen pork, mutton, goat and poultry meat. The country of origin should also be indicated for unprocessed meat sold over the counter, i.e., at the butcher, in supermarkets, but also at farmers' markets. According to the ministry, the proposal should be submitted "immediately".
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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) together with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) issued a new report on 03/10/2022 regarding the incidence of bird flu in the EU and Great Britain. According to the results of the report, the bird flu epidemic in 2021-2022 is the largest bird flu epidemic ever recorded in the monitored area. As a result, approximately 48 million poultry and birds were killed, and it affected 37 countries across Europe, including Svalbard and Ukraine. There was no infection in humans during the monitored period, but the report points to higher health risks for farmers who must deal with infected animals.
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The Assessment Group for Glyphosate (AGG), composed of experts from FR, HU, NL and SE, called last week on the European Commission, namely the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) to extend the license authorizing the use of glyphosate until the European Authority for food safety (EFSA) will complete the work on its opinion. The current license for the use of glyphosate is valid until 15/12/2022, but EFSA will not have time to submit its opinion until then. The group made the call with a view to the upcoming meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) on 13-14/10/2022, where a discussion on glyphosate is scheduled to take place. EFSA's opinion should be available by July 2023, according to EFSA's preliminary assessments, glyphosate should meet the criteria for approval of the substance in terms of safety for human health and the environment.