During her intervention in front of the plenary session of the European Parliament, Health Commissioner Kyriakides stated that the Commission has not yet taken a decision on front-of-packaging labelling, refusing rumours that the Nutri-Score is the favoured option. Member Stated have decided to ban, starting in 2022, food additive E171 after consistent studies have underlined […]
October marked the adoption of the Farm to Fork strategy as a shared European strategy, and not only a European Commission’s initiative. In fact, the vote of the European Parliament on the texted agreed by the joint ComEnvi & ComAgri Committees confirmed most of the Commission’s vision of the future of European agriculture and the […]
The month of October 2021 was characterized by an increase in raw material costs for winemakers worldwide. However, the wine industry seems to be able to pass on these additional costs to consumers since the economic recovery following COVID fuels demand. Higher prices are also justified by lower volume supplied worldwide and especially in France […]
September 17-18th marked the Agricultural G20 held in Florence, Italy, after which agriculture ministers signed a declaration of intentions named “Charter of Florence”: with commitments in turning agriculture more sustainable. On the Front-of-Package labelling debate, IARC/WHO – International Agency for Research on Cancer – published a paper in support of the Nutri-Score system, whereas the […]
A new study from the Kiel University, Germany, takes a clear cut conclusion on the effect of F2F on the agricultural sector in the UE. And while the US tires to create a coalition that would oppose the agri-food strategy, Vice-President Timmermans called on world leader to be inspired by the same strategy so to […]
In September the European Commission opened for public consultation asking for stakeholders their opinion on the legislative initiative to update the curent legal framework on the matter of New Genomic Techniques, following the study published in April 2021. At the same time, a letter signed by 50+ organisations addressed to the Commission opposed its opening […]
In September 2021, the EU Parliament has rejected plans to reserve five specific groups of antibiotics for use in humans and largely ban them in animals. Developments concerning the avian flu and African Swine Fever are still closely monitored in the EU. At national level, a pig backlog and shortage of CO2 and workers are […]
At EU-level, historically low harvests have been forecasted for France, Italy and Spain following spring frosts, hail, droughts and diseases earlier this year. At national level, a volcanic eruption on the Canary Islands is threatening wine growers, hail affected Spanish vineyards and wildfires threatened white wine crops in Greece. In Italy, Agriculture Minister Patuanelli ensures […]
At the 10th anniversary of the event, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, has given today her second ‘State of the Union Address’ at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. This annual event is significant to demonstrate the European Commission’s accountability towards the EU’s democratically elected representatives, the Members of the European […]
The Commission has finally released a study on the impact of its F2F and Biodiversity Strategy proposals on the agriculture sector. The key commitments that directly affect the EU farming sector include reducing the use of chemical pesticides by 50% and of fertilisers by 20%, setting of at least 10% of agricultural area under high-diversity […]