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The European Commission is trying to speed up the approval of the trade agreement with Mercosur by dividing the agreement into several parts. Splitting the agreement would shorten the approval process, which would not have to be signed by the individual parliaments of the Member States, it would only require the approval of the Council and the European Parliament. Last week, MEP Sven Simon (DE, EPP), a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Trade, supported the accelerated negotiation of the EU's trade agreement with Mercosur. According to Simon, this is a strategic move in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, for the EU to strengthen its position in the world. However, gaining support from a majority of the European Parliament is not certain due to insufficient sustainability commitments from Mercosur.
More information is available here.

On 05/10/2022, the European Commission published the short-term outlook for EU food and agricultural trade for 2022. The total value of food and agricultural trade reached EUR 34 billion in June this year, which is 2.6% less than in the month of May, but 24% more compared to the same period last year. Exports for June 2022 increased by 1% compared to May, while imports decreased by 7%. The overview shows that the beginning of 2023 may continue to be challenging for many farmers. Due to the hot and dry summer, part of the fodder was used on farms for the winter, which threatens to decrease milk production by 0.2% across EU member states. Due to structural changes in the beef and milk production sector, a 0.6% decrease in beef production is also expected.
The European Commission overview is available here.
More information is available here.

Last week, the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety called on Member States to cooperate on the development of a vaccine against African swine fever. This happened during the "High Level Meeting on African Swine Fever" attended by EU Agriculture Ministers, which took place on 27/09/2022. The commissioner highlighted the steps taken by the Czech Republic and Belgium, which led to the eradication of the disease on the territory of these countries and supported the principle of regionalization. In addition to vaccine development, individual stakeholders should also be properly informed about the risks and best practices for preventing the spread of the disease. To combat African swine fever, the European Union invests in several scientific projects that focus on vaccine development, biological safety, and other relevant aspects of the issue. The General Secretary of the largest European agricultural organization, Pekka Pesonen, also took part in the meeting, who called on the European Commission to release adequate resources and funds, not only from CAP resources, for the fight against African swine fever.

The European Commission has proposed new rules that could temporarily lift the time limit for marketing eggs as free-range if laying hens must be confined to reduce the risk of bird flu outbreaks. The current regulation allows eggs to be marked with the free-range label if laying hens have daily access to outdoor areas, or if the restriction of access to the outdoor area does not exceed 16 continuous weeks, for example in the event of an outbreak of bird flu. The proposal still needs to be approved by the European Parliament.
More information is available here.

Austrian Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig, with the support of HR, FI, HU, LV, RO and SK, called on the European Commission during the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on 26/09/2022 to review the Habitats Directive and thereby support the protection of biodiversity and small farmers by providing greater flexibility in allowing deviations from the strict regime for the protection of large carnivores. The current 30-year-old habitat directive protects the wolf's status, but its population has tripled since 1995, and wolves are migrating out of their original habitat. In Austria, for example, the number of attacks on livestock herds increased by 230% in a single year. But Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius dismissed Member States' concerns, saying that the current legislation provides sufficient tools and funding to ensure that the protection of large carnivores and farmers is maintained. He pointed to the fact that, according to existing legal regulations, Member States have the possibility to establish deviations from strict protection rules in properly justified cases.
More information is available here.