May 27th, 2021 Press Release by Farm Europe Farm Europe discussed, today, the regulatory implications of the last report (1) presented by the European Commission on the status of new genomic techniques (NGT), during a digital event that gathered representatives from EU institutions and scientists. The opinion that the current regulatory framework needs to be […]

News have circulated that the UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is reaching the final legs of negotiation. The UK would have offered full free access to its market, including in beef and sheep, with a phasing-out of quotas and tariffs for these two sectors in 15 years. It is also rumoured that the UK would […]

The Regulation on transparency became effective since March 2021. It is supposed to improve the transparency of the risk assessment process that involves food approval. On the Front of Package Label, Italian agriculture minister took a clear/cut position against the NutriScore, defining it “idiot”. A member of the Wojciechowski cabinet also took a public position […]

On April 29th the Commission published its study on the “Status of new genomic techniques under EU law and in light of the Court of Justice Ruling in case C/528-16” where it analyses the state of play of the debate on NBTs by interviewing Member States and stakeholders and concluding that the EU legislation on […]

In the month of April 2021, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Romania, and France approved schemes to support the agri-food sector in coping with COVID-19 impacts.In Denmark, a scheme for mink farmers was approved to support mink farmers and related businesses in the context of the coronavirus outbreak, which led to the culling of millions of minks […]

In April 2021, issues of animal transport were discussed in meetings of the Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport (ANIT). On April 15th, the AGRI and PETI Committee met for a Hearing on the “End the Cage Age” ECI, which sparked debates across Europe. On April 21st, Regulation 2016/429, the new […]

April marked the turning point for the negotiations on some matters in the Strategic Plan regulation, notably on the eco-schemes. In fact, the Portuguese presidency proposed a compromise on the ring-fencing of funds under the first pillar that would include 22% during the learning period (2023-24) to be raised at 25% in 2025. During their […]

March has seen many institutional meetings concerning the CAP negotiations that led, eventually, closer to a general agreement between Council and Parliament. In fact, EP Agricultural Commission discussed the advancement in trilogues, as did the Minsters, before the end-of-the-month “Super-trilogue” which resembled the negotiating teams of all three legislative files at once. The outcomes resulted […]

While in the U.K (England) the debate on changing the legislation on gene editing has started, the U.S Department for Agriculture took some step further to loosen rules on genetically engineered animals. In the EU, the independent group on Ethics that advises the Commission’s executive, published its opinion on gene-editing, according to which an inclusive […]

The month of March 2021 was marked by the 4-month suspension of tariffs between the US and the EU, including products in the agri-food sector; further Brexit-implications for the livestock market and the fate of thousands of cattle on a livestock ship in Spain. At European level, the AGRI Committee met on March 4th to […]