Euractiv’s agri-food hub has identified all incoming lawmakers likely to influence agricultural policy over the 2024-2029 mandate.
At the transport and energy Council yesterday (30 May), France, Germany and the Netherlands called the European Commission to launch controls in 3rd countries to reinforce the mesures against the import of fraudulent biofuels.
The reduction of the maximum level allowed for mycotoxins in cereals, substances produced by fungi that can harm human health if consumed in sufficient quantities, could cost European cereal producers dearly, warned French European Parliament (MEP) Anne Sander.
Despite the presentation of a new compromise text from the Belgian presidency, national experts could not find an agreement to unblock one of the agrifood unfinished dossier of the legislature.
Food and agriculture stakeholders are asking the European Commission to finalise the details of the EU's deforestation regulation while a group of agriculture ministers seek a postponement, a move opposed by NGOs and ruled out by the Commission for now.
In a compromise text seen by Euractiv, which will be discussed until Thursday (23 May), the Belgian presidency of the EU Council aims to overcome the main obstacle for EU countries to reach a common position on the controversial rules on last-generation biotech crops.
On 16 May, the European Commission, in partnership with Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and the US, inaugurated a renewed Ukrainian-Moldovan border crossing point in Reni, Ukraine.
EU ambassadors will debate lowering the protection status of wolves on Wednesday (15 May), a controversial move that has no scientific justification, according to conservationists, who denounced it in an open letter.
After expressing dissatisfaction with the rectruitment procedure led by the European Commission, the food safety Authority board decided to reappoint Bernhard Url, director since 2014, to allow the process for the selection to restart and be completed next year.
The Commission will assess if there is a need to incentivise EU countries to shorten the time for the reclamation of irregular payments, a spokesperson said after the European Court of Auditors (ECA) highlighted the lengthy process to return improper disbursements to the EU budget.
Last week the European Parliament gave its final nod to a package meant to make the Common Agricultural Policy rules easier to apply for farmers and national administrations. But it is not the end of the CAP ‘simplification’ debate. It is just the beginning.
With farmers under the age of 40 accounting for only 11.9% of farm managers in the EU in 2020, the need to ensure generational renewal is becoming a key issue in the agricultural sector.
On Tuesday 23 April, the plenary gave its final approval to extend the liberalisation of imports from Kyiv, including measures to protect EU agriculture and the pledge of the Commission to start talks soon with Kyiv for a permanent solution.
The EU executive published a proposal on Friday (19 April) to revise the Nitrates Directive to make it easier to use fertilisers made from livestock manure.
In the next meeting on pesticides between the Commission and member states, on Monday and Tuesday, the bloc’s executive will table a regulation to slash to zero the insecticide thiacloprid residues in all food products, after having proposed to raise the limit of the maximum quantity of residues in imported food.
Avian influenza vaccination cannot completely immunise birds, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said in a report published on 17 April, as France banked on it to reduce the disease’s impact.
Some words are bigger than others. When accompanied by "food", the term "security" is one of them.
The end of the saga on the temporary liberalisation of Ukraine's imports to the EU could mark a new start in relations between Brussels and Kyiv.
After a case of transmission from cattle to a dairy worker in the US, the risk of infection for humans remains low but vigilance must stay high, the European Commission and EU agencies on health and food safety told Euractiv.
The European Commission proposed to increase tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grains and oilseeds imports to prevent the destabilisation of the EU market, the funding of Russian aggression against Ukraine and to try to defuse the protests on the Ukrainian-Polish border.
The Parliament and the Council found a compromise to prolong the trade liberalisation until June 2025 ensuring an ‘emergency brake’ in case of excessive imports of certain food products from Kyiv, but the EU Ambassadors postponed their final decision while the European Parliament Trade Committee approved it.
In a letter seen by Euractiv, agriculture ministers from five EU countries called on the Commission to propose draft legislation to limit the import of grains from Russia and Belarus, citing unfair competition and moral obligations.
EU initiatives against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine have always excluded the agricultural sector. This is meant to avoid side effects on global food security, as Russia is the world's largest exporter of wheat and a major player in the global fertiliser market.
The Commission presented on Friday (15 March) its simplification package to reduce the administrative burden of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), loosening some environmental requirements and allowing more flexibility for the member states in the implementation of the policy.
