The US presidential election involved all political commentators, trying to understand what Biden’s election as President of the United States could mean for Europe. It is reasonable to expect a return to more relaxed relations between Washington and Brussels. Which could lead, for example, to a shared solution on the tariffs front, which has seen the acceleration of the EU, ready to follow the spiral in which the US and the EU have become entangled in recent years.

However, the Trump administration has decided the extension of the 25% additional taxes to all EU non sparkling wines and to Armagnac, Cognac…

The crisis due to the Covid pandemic, the closure in many countries of the Horeca continues to worry the wine sector. The French, Italian and Spanish wine cooperatives – which represent more than 50% of European production – organized a public debate together with the European Think Tank Farm Europe on the crisis of wine sector due to Covid-19 pandemic and on the way to overcome the current crisis.

On December 16, the European Commission published the EU Agricultural Outlook 2020-2030 for the EU wine sector. It foresees that consumers are expected to favour less alcoholic and sparkling wine, slowing down the decline in consumption. In parallel, other uses such as distillation should increase. Regarding trade, EU exports should be driven by high demand for wine with a geographical indication and sparkling wines. Overall, EU wine production should slightly decline.

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During December, the CRISPS methodology has found a new appliance for a Covid-19 test using the Cas 13 protein, while MEPs wrote a letter to Health and food safety Commissioner reminding her the possible benefits that New breeding techniques could have in reaching the Green Deal objectives set in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategy.

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During the last month of the year the CAP reform negotiations went on, with Commissioner VP Timmermans starting negotiations on the Green architecture, however, MEP voiced their concerns on the Strategic Plans and the risks of concrete nationalisation of the European agricultural policy. At the same time, Council and Parliament agreed on the set of rules to assure a smooth transition from the current CAP rules to the future ones, by granting a two-year transition period. The incoming Portuguese Presidency of the Council assured that innovation, knowledge transfer, and digitalisation are a top priority to put forward in its agenda. The Committee of the Regions adopted its opinion on the Farm to Fork strategy, supporting it as a fundamental pillar of the post-2020 CAP. Furthermore, the Commission adopted its recommendations for the Strategic Plans to Member States.

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While everyone has been getting ready for the end of the year festivities, it is worth mentioning that the US’s Congress has just passed last week its $900 billion COVID-19 relief package.

Evidently, this includes a new round of aid to a wide array of agricultural sectors and farmers on top of the previous packages, which aimed to already cope with the COVID-19 crisis and the effects of the trade war with China.

Just as a quick recap, the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) Funding alone has made available $30 billion in relief to the ones in need in the form of direct financial assistance and not loans that need to be paid back.

The share of this new round is estimated to be at $13 billion directly to agricultural programs managed by the Agriculture Department with another $13 billion towards nutrition and food assistance.

The comprehensive relief package includes once again aid for dairy, livestock and poultry as well as crop producers, who are eligible to receive a payment of $20 per eligible acre of the crop. Finally, biofuel producers have not been left out either, as they have suffered significant losses due to the decline in fuel consumption.

The bill not only contains provisions for direct financial support but also has a great deal of other agriculture-related provisions to ease the pressure on US farmers, ranchers and other food producers and processors.

On this side of the Atlantic, in the EU, the previous emergency measures taken were necessary but obviously not enough for some sectors, notably the EU wine one.

President Trump has signed this week the coronavirus relief and it is therefore now up to the EU, to be able to match this ambition for its own farmers, not only in words but action.

The month of November has been marked by several reports published an animal welfare, as well as a meeting of the Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals During Transport (ANIT) where issues related to animal transport were discussed on November 20^th. On a European level, much discussed topics were the fast spreading bird flu, which threatens the EU poultry industry and a large number of COVID-19 cases in mink in several countries.

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During this month the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) published two opinions on synthetic gene drivers techniques and on gene editing techniques. On the former, the agency believes that existing guidelines are sufficient for evaluating risks associated with technology, but further guidance is needed; on the latter, the EFSA assessed their safety.

Researchers from the Tel-Aviv University discovered a possible technique for fighting cancer using CRISPR technology.

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The month of November 2020 has been marked by some major developments in the CAP on-going negotiation among the European institutions. Notably, on November 10^th the trilogue session kicked-off the interinstitutional discussions on the three legislative files; it was reached an agreement among the co-legislators on the Recovery plan for the agricultural development (including €8.7 bn); and the public debate was fired up by the Commission’s VP Timmermans’ statements on green claims for the CAP.

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