Secretary-General Position: CC have published the Secretary-General role for candidates with more information on CC website here as well as via the Executive Search and Consultancy Dober Partners LinkedIn hereUmberto di Pasquo
POLICY UPDATES
Simplification Package: On 26 March, the AGRIFISH Council endorsed, as part of the urgency procedure, the EC medium to long-term proposals for simplification, with only three minor technical adjustments. The EP should also follow the urgency procedure, while COMENVI is requesting to have shared competence on the file. The decision on how to proceed lies with the EP’s Conference of Committee Chairs. If not, the Conference of Presidents would need to decide Camelia Gyorffy,Paulo Gouveia
GAEC 1: After the positive outcome of the early non-objection procedure on the Delegated Act revising the Delegated Act 126/2022 on GAEC 1 in COMAGRI on 19 March, the AGRIFISH Council on 26 March also endorsed the text. The text now needs to go to one of the Plenaries in April for final endorsement before being published in the Official Journal Camelia Gyorffy,Paulo Gouveia
Long-term Vision for the EU’s Rural Areas: On 27 March, the EC presented its report on the Long-term vision on rural areas: key achievements and ways forward. This presents a factual state of play and some stakeholder and institutional considerations for the future support for rural areas. The institutions are requested to further reflect on the topic. A policy lab will take place in autumn and the next Rural Pact Conference will take place in the beginning of 2025. The latter will reflect on the post-2027 policy orientations with regards to rural areas and the financial support. Camelia Gyorffy,Paulo Gouveia
AGRIFISH: Following AGRIFISH Council meeting had on 26 March, COPA and COGECA Presidents explained key points discussed here below and in thread here
Fertilisers: The draft EC DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) …/… of 4.3.2024 amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1009 of the EP and of the Council as regards adding processed manure as a component material in EU fertilising products aims to add Processed manure fulfilling the conditions in Article 3(d) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1605 in the CMC 10. it was send to co-legislators on 8 March. The EP and Council generally have two months to formulate any objections. If they do not, the delegated act enters into force.The COM IMCO is the leading Committee, COMAGRI and ENVI are associated Committees. The next IMCO meeting will take place on 3 April. The rapporteur is not yet nominated Dominique Dejonckheere
PRM: The final version of Hebrert Dorfmann’s report is available in Agripulse. The draft COMENVI report goes in the wrong direction as it creates a secondary market for uncontrolled PRM; the derogations have been extended to full exemptions of PRM legislation and decouple PRM and NGT regulations on the sustainability testing of NGT 1 plants. Euroseeds and CC are working on several options 1) 1 amendment on the rejection of COMAGRI report 2) amendments improving the COMAGRI report 3) 1 amendment sending back the draft COMAGRI report to COMAGRI committee Dominique Dejonckheere
Floriculture Event: On 9 April from 6.30-8pm the European Flower and Plant Growers (represented by CC) will hold an event on recognising the fundamental importance of floriculture. This event will launch the European Flower and Plant Growers Manifesto in order to raise awareness among citizens and politicians regarding the importance of the sector and its commitments. The event will take place in-person at the EP. For those interested please register hereManon Dubois
Poultry:Letter from CC, EFFAB and EPB to permreps in Brussels and DG SANTE regarding broiler breeding and selection for welfare. Earlier this year, DG SANTE sent a letter to Veterinary attaches on the Implementation of provisions of Directive 9858 regarding genetic selection of broilers for rapid growth rate. During the last PAFF meeting, a point regarding genetic selection of broilers for rapid growth rate was in the agenda. Please contact your permrep to follow up on this issue Manon Dubois
EFSA Webinar: EFSA is consulting stakeholders on ‘Draft guidance on the scientific requirements for an application for authorisation of a novel food in the context of Regulation (EU) 2015/2283’. The deadline is 14 April. Concurrently, EFSA is organising a webinar on the Novel Food Guidance on 21 March, from 3-6 pm. More info and registration hereEva Sali
Promotion Policy: CC met with DG AGRI to discuss the future of Reg 1144/2014, the reinterpretation of the continuation rule, the priorities for the 2025 Annual Work Programme and the expected budget cuts for multi programmes (no decision has been made yet). CC sent its input on the priorities (PPA(24)00886), coordinated messages with stakeholders and will later draft a letter on the budget to send to MS Eva Sali
Food Waste: On 25 March, the ENVI ministers discussed the extent to which the targets proposed by the EC are sufficient to meet SDG 12.3. Few MS, including DE, argued that the targets were insufficient. Several MS called for a distinction between edible and inedible, whereas others challenged the baseline year of 2020. The NL called for the inclusion of the primary production, something that the rest of MS have rejected in line with the CC position. The Council is expected to adopt its general approach by June whereas trilogue negotiations will start during the next mandate Eva Sali
Food Contaminants: DG SANTE is currently processing comments from stakeholders on the MOAHs (CC sent its own on 27 February). The discussions with MS will continue in Q2 and Q3 of 2024. The adoption of delegated acts is targeted to Q4 2024-Q1 2025 Eva Sali
Deforestation: The date of the Council experts on ENVI and Forestry on deforestation was changed from 3 April to 23 April (back to back with the Ad-hoc working group on forest monitoring on 22 April) Oana Neagu
Deforestation: Please find here EN(24)00943 and EN(24)00912 the joint statements supported by CC that were released on 25 March and 28 March. The first one signed by four organisations representing primary producers is asking for the postponement of the entry into force of the EU Deforestation Regulation and the second ones supported by 23 EU organisations is raising the main concerns on the implementation of the regulation and asking the EC for urgent reaction. These are in line with the note supported by 21 MS in the AGRI Council on 26 March EN(24)00887 and with the various letters and questions sent by MEP. The Council experts will discuss in more details this file on 23 April Oana Neagu
AgETS: CC asks members to provide written contributions by 12 April EOB on a set of questions to prepare reflections on the AgETS Study. These contributions should guide discussions on 25 April from 2.30-4.30pm CET. Please note that this is an internal meeting with translation in all languages (hybrid). Please save the date in your calendar and register through the following link here.(deadline 23 April). Please refer to the first part of the study EN(23)05215 in your internal discussions on the following questions. These written reflections and our internal discussion will help prepare contributions to the workshops on 19-20 June, where the EC will be looking into the following open-questions for further study 1) Administrative feasibility of down and upstream options, 2) Impacts on trade and mechanisms to avoid it (CBAM, FTAs, feasibility of free allowances) 3) Impact on farm income 4) Impact on consumers (marketing and prices), and 5) Impact on ensuring a more resilient environment and on animal welfare Irene de Tovar
Certification Framework for Carbon Removals: The provisional agreement reached between the Council and the EP on 19 February was ratified by Coreper on 8 March and by COMENVI on 11 March, and will now be voted in plenary on 10 April Irene de Tovar
IED: The Council and the EP were expected to do the ceremony of ratification of the IED approved agreement on 2 April. This is yet to be confirmed Irene de Tovar
NRL: The Council was expected to vote on 25 March on the NRL, however first it was due to be confirmed on the agenda for that meeting in a COREPER I meeting on 20 March. Due to the fact that there was no majority for this to pass in the Council the following week, it was not added to the agenda for the ENVI Council and instead due to be rediscussed on 22 wherein another COREPER I meeting was held. However, the COREPER I meeting did not, in the end, place the NRL on the agenda. However, an AOB point was added to the agenda of the ENVI Council on the morning of 25 for the afternoon public session regarding the NRL. HU stated that their reason for rejection is for subsidiarity reasons, as they are already restoring & this proposal does not give proper flexibility Niall Curley
ChemSkills Project: On behalf of the president of the Agricultural Association of the Czech Republic, CC kindly ask you to participate in a survey regarding the current state of skills related to promoting digitisation and environmental sustainability in the fertiliser industry. This survey is crucial for identifying existing skills gaps and deficiencies in current training programs aimed at enhancing qualifications and retraining workers. Your participation and cooperation would greatly contribute to the success of the ChemSkills project. Please find below the link to the survey here. Further information on the Chemskills project can be found hereNiall Curley, Branwen Miles, Marina Antonova, Dominique Dejonckheere
R&I Workshop: On 28 March, CC held a workshop on research and innovation wiht the R&I WP to share information an exchange on a number of EU projects for further collaboration. See the thread to find out more about the EU projects hereBranwen Miles
EU CAP Network: The EU CAP Network are organising an EIP-AGRI Operational Group conference along with a OG Innovation Award, to take place back to back from 7-8 May in Estoril, Portugal. The main objective of the conference is twofold: to highlight the successful implementation of the EIP-AGRI through Operational Group projects as one of its main building blocks, and to learn from this experience for the implementation of projects under the CAP 2023-2027. The main objective of the awards is to recognise and reward outstanding EIP-AGRI OGs which have developed innovative practices, solutions, products and processes. There are six award categories in total. More information and to apply hereBranwen Miles
FSDN: The EC adopted the FSDN Delegated Act on 13 March. This will follow a 2-months scrutiny period, with the publication in the Official Journal expected for end of May. In the next FSDN/FADN Committee on 18 April, a potential revised version on the FSDN new variables will be discussed. The intention is to have the Implementing Act on these variables approved in autumn 2024 Camelia Gyorffy
Ukraine ATMs: On 27 March in the evening MSs reached an agreement in Coreper on Council’s position on the trilogue outcome on renewal of Ukraine ATMs. The position consists of an addition of the second half of year 2021 to the reference period (July 2021 to December 2023). Reinforced monitoring on cereals + a declaration on art. 29 of DCFTA to confirm that it’s the last ATM, and Association Agreement need to be re-discussed. No new products added to the automatic triggering system. The next step is for the Belgian Presidency to go to the EP with this proposition. At this stage, CC do not know if there will be a formal new trilogue or if it will directly go for a vote in EP INTA on 9 April and then in Plenary on 11 April. The agreement is an improvement but not enough to ensure a fair balance for sectors Ksenija Simovic, Bruno Menne
Enlargement: The EC adopted last week a Communication on pre-enlargement reforms and policy reviews. This document contributes to the ongoing discussion process about the internal reforms the EU will need to make to prepare for an enlarged Union. It looks at the implications of a larger EU in four main areas; values, policies, budget and governance, including CAP. More info hereKsenija Simovic, Paulo Gouveia
CETA: Have your say consultation on the evaluation of the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is open until 15 April for your contributions. More info hereKsenija Simovic
