Among the requested aids is the support for the protein autonomy of farms (100 million euros), the modernisation of slaughterhouses (€130 million), the “Biosecurity and animal welfare in farming” pact (€100 million) and training in collective bargaining for producer organizations (€4 million).
During the months of September and October, the world of wine has been characterized by harvests. According to the annual OIV estimates, after the exceptionally high production of 2018, for the second consecutive year, the 2020 world wine production volume is expected to be below average. At the institutional level, the Parliament and the Agriculture Council have adopted their negotiating position on the reform of the CAP. Regarding wine and planting authorizations, both Parliament and the Council have approved an extension of planting authorizations until 2050 and 2040 respectively. In the Boeing-Airbus dispute, the WTO, after having authorized the United States to impose punitive tariffs of $ 7.5 billion on exports from the European Union a year ago, has now authorized the EU to impose tariffs of $ 4 billion dollars on US goods. The EU wine sector has been the collateral victim of that dispute, facing a hefty 25% additional duty in exports to the US and the wine sector is concerned about a possible tariff escalation.
The European Parliament and the Council of Agriculture Ministers have just defined the architecture and the main lines of CAP reform that they intend to see implemented from 2023 and that they will defend during the negotiations which will start from November in the presence of the Commission (trilogues).
This month has been marked by the Nobel price nomination for chemistry to the inventors of the CRISP/Cas9, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, and the discovery of a new methodology of use this technique, notably with the Cas3 enzyme, so to allow to work with bigger parts of DNA. Moreover, CRISP/Cas9 have been used to modify trees and chickens for more, respectively, climate-friendly usage, and to cure poultry virus.
France, Ireland, and Italy outlined their draft bills for the 2021 budget for agriculture. At the European level, the Agri Committee voted the Recovery and Resilience plan for agriculture ahead of the discussion and vote in the plenary to be held in Strasbourg on October 20th. The bill passed in the Committee with 46 votes in favor, 2 abstentions, and no against.
At the level of the European Parliament, De Castro (S&D), rapporteur on the file, presented to the ComAgri the first amended version concerning the recovery plan for agriculture. It could allow the sector to benefit from more than €10 billion, to be mobilized during 2021 and 2022.
At the Agri Council meeting, Ministers gathered to talk about green architecture, direct payments and the new delivery model. Ministers stressed the need for further discussions on the strategic plan’s approval process.
At European Parliament level, Paolo De Castro (S&D), rapporteur on the recovery plan dossier, proposed that at least 2/3 of the total recovery package should be devoted to investment in sustainable development and digitization.
At the meeting of the Council of agriculture ministers, Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski explained that despite the recession caused by the pandemic, the value of EU agri-food exports reached €75.8 billion in January-May 2020, an increase of 2% compared to the same period of the previous year.
This month hot topic on New Breeding Techniques focused mainly on a controversial new study published on “Food” describing experiments which could lead to potentially “detect GMOs derived from genome-editing techniques”.
In Germany, CDU/CSU underlined its view that “it should not be regulated as genetically modified organisms “. In Germany as well, a new experimental use of CRISPR/Cas by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology succeeded to change genetic sequence within a chromosome. CRISPR/Cas9 has also been used by a joint US-UK research effort on pigs, goats, and cattle to create sperm with genetically enhanced traits for possible offsprings.
Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski announced at the informal Council meeting in Koblenz that he is in charge of drawing up a plan to ensure food security in case of future crises. Furthermore, opening up to pressure from MEPs, the Commissioner expressed his willingness to make the €8 current billion (7.5 billion constant euros) recovery funds decided for the sector available from January 2021.
For details on the Authorisations for State aid schemes: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/home/en
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, has given today her first ever ‘State of the Union Address’ at the European Parliament in Brussels. This annual event is significant to demonstrate the European Commission’s accountability towards the EU’s democratically elected representatives, the Members of the European Parliament and to be able to debate on the vision and roadmap that the European Commission is proposing.
