Updates from the EU Commission, Council and Parliament
In what has been an absolutely tumultuous week for the EU and its institutions, Jean Claude Junker has announced that the European Commission intends to approve the EU-Canada trade deal CETA without national parliament approval. […]
Following a long and fractious process, it appears the herbicide glyphosate will have its approval extended for 18 months, pending another agencies’ assessment. […]
ARC2020’s next debate will be on the collapse in farm incomes, including in particular the milk price collapse. The causes, the consequences and most importantly the ways out of the current untenable situation will be explored in this debate over the coming weeks. […]
What was supposed to be a fairly routine renewal of the herbicide glyphosate has turned into a quicksand quagmire. The European Commission has twice now failed to approve the controversial substance, as enough member states could not be mustered to support it. And the approval deadline of 30th June is fast approaching. Oliver Moore gives us an update. […]
Another leak has rocked the TTIP negotiations. The full extent of the demands from the US side for sacrifices to EU standards – especially in agriculture – are revealed. However – and despite the spin – major differences between the two sides are also exposed. Peter Crosskey has the details, with special reference to agriculture. […]
The EU is being asked to give up a lot in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), especially its relatively higher standards on food and chemical safety. It’s also asking for a lot in return, including the massive opening of U.S. public procurement to bids by EU firms. A new leaked memo from the European Commission shows just how much they want to open up those markets. It’s a bad tradeoff for both sides. […]
The European Commission should renew the EU market approval for glyphosate for another 7 years only instead of 15 as originally proposed, says the non-binding resolution. Improved and more transparent evidence are also called for. […]
On Sunday 20th March, the Big Everything Else Parade (Tout Autre Chose/Hart Boven Hard) took place in Brussels. Many alternatives to the business-as-usual austerity and corporate control agenda were represented, including the better food and farming brigade. Nele Baltide was there. Here’s her report – a fascinating snapshot of the great food initiatives happening on the ground in Belgium. […]
Ukraine’s is in the news again after the Dutch vote against a free trade agreement between the EU and that state. But what do we know about its agricultural sector? Well, its booming. However, questions are being raised as to whom this new agrarian growth is actually benefiting; the rural population or established farming corporations? […]
Our most environmentally valuable farmland is condemned to a slow death by a combination of EU bureaucracy and national decisions. CAP’s so called greening ties up farmers in bureaucracy, uses valuable public money and still fails to protect nature or the incomes of farmers in marginalised areas adequately. There are however solutions. […]
The European Commission “should not renew the approval of the herbicide substance glyphosate on the EU market.” That’s according to the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, which objects to the Commission’s plans to approve the controversial substance in June of this year, for a further 15 years. […]
The EU has recently experienced several digressions from its official line on sanctions against Russia. The growing frustration of European farmers with the sanction regime has prompted national politicians to undermine the EU’s position on Russia, whilst presenting no consistent solutions of their own. […]
AGRIFISH Council Meeting Increases Diary Intervention and Introduces State Aid of E15000 per farmer. […]
A national experts’ vote on the European Commission’s plan to grant a new 15-year lease to the herbicide glyphosate was cancelled today (Tuesday) as several countries raised concerns over cancer warnings by the World Health Organisation. […]
The European Commission has postponed a vote on a 15-year reauthorisation of the substance Glyphosate, following important concerns from EU Member States and environmental organisations. This article looks at what’s next in the Glyphosate debate, before reviewing the most contentious issues surrounding this topic. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention