The draft Protocol proposed by the European Commission doesn’t provide answer to the actual environment and climate concerns on the Mercosur deal, and much less in attempting to establish a level playing field for EU farmers. Vague political declarations seem to be what’s on the table. Will they suffice to convince the European Parliament and the Council?
The first couple of months of 2023 had to face the consequences of the on-going invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the energy crisis and the inflation rate which heavily affected prices further leveraging the consumers’ purchasing power. In this context, the issues of pesticides, European sovereignty over fertilisers and the European Union’s protein strategy are […]
The EC’s February positioning over the regulation on NGTs triggered contrasting reactions across European Countries and different sectors. Scientists believe they will help facing the environmental and food security challenges. Some ministers are worried on their impact on small farmers and firms. On the other hand, the UK adopted the Precision Breeding Bill, which will allow the […]
A final agreement was reached on March 30th between the European Parliament and Council on the Renewable Energy Directive’s revision. This agreement confirms the strategic importance of agricultural biomass in delivering the EU’s climate ambition alongside other renewables. It represents stability for crop-based biofuels, which are currently the main contributors to transport decarbonisation, together with […]
The Russian unlawful attack on Ukraine in February 2022 and the following blockade of Ukrainian ports have severely affected global grain supply chains. With Ukraine being a major world exporter of corn, wheat, sunflower and barley, it was imperative for the international community to find solutions to get Ukrainian production out of the country in order to ensure global food security.
While the EU is waiting for the European Commission to publish its proposal on the legal framework for new genomic techniques (NGTs) next June 7, in the UK last March 23 the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act was passed after a process of about a year. Precision breeding involves using technologies such as gene editing to adapt the […]
The school schemes for food procurement are a European initiative whose aim is to improve the quality and the variety of nutritional intake for children in school age. They represent one branch of the preventive arm of the more general approach of the EU in its health policies by educating the next generation to healthy […]
The CJEU’s decision on excluding specific in-vitro from the OGM regulation sparked contrasting reactions from multiple associations. The eight-year-long debate’s verdict comes as the EC works to define specific rules on NGTs, fueling the debate amongst NGOs. Outside the UE, the US are expecting higher investments on the NTGs studies to boost up their competitivity, […]
In February, France has made some long-awaited announcements featuring an approval of 160 million € for a cyclical distillation of wines, and other support measures for the sector. In the meantime, Italy’s wine exports are still dominating and Spain has had its Barcelona Wine Week with Minister Luis Planas. Finally, the WTO has received the […]
At a time where securing food sovereignty is high on the European agenda, the EU-NZ FTA will not be understood by the EU agriculture community, and rightly so. Ahead of the negotiation, the European Commission published a Trade Sustainability Impact Assessment with disturbing results