Updates from the EU Commission, Council and Parliament
The European Parliament has officially backed plans to fast-track changes to the EU’s farming subsidy programme which dismantles its environmental requirements in the process. However civil society is not ready to let the decision go down without a fight, with lawyers gearing up to challenge the move. Natasha Foote reports. […]
Under pressure from farmer protests, upcoming elections and its own cowardice in the face of climate and biodiversity collapse, the political establishment in Brussels and beyond is fast-tracking the evisceration of CAP’s environmental elements. This rush job began on 15th March with a proposal from the Commission, and will likely end Thursday 25th when the last full plenary of the Parliament rubber stamps the proposed regulation. The latest piece of sequencing was confidential legal advice given to the European Parliament on the process. In part one Natasha Foote outlined the proposal and the legal advice. Here Oliver Moore applies a critical analysis to shortcomings therein. […]
When the Commission proposed re-opening the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy in efforts to placate protesting farmers, stakeholders were quick to question the legitimacy of the process, with some even labelling the move “unlawful”. Now, the European Parliament’s legal service has weighed in on the process. So what is the verdict? And what does it mean for the future direction of the policy process? Natasha Foote digs in. […]
The European Parliament has given its blessing to a fast-track approval process to push through a proposal aimed at simplifying the EU’s farming subsidy programme, which effectively guts the policy of its environmental requirements. Natasha Foote reports. […]
It’s back to the future as the EU’s green ambitions face the chopping block, with priorities shifting to security and competition. That’s according to the European Council’s vision for the next 5 years, as revealed in a leaked internal draft of EU leaders’ ‘strategic agenda’. Oliver Moore and Natasha Foote have the details, including the leaked document itself. […]
The EU’s Nature Restoration Law has suffered yet another set back after a number of EU countries refused to greenlight the final shape of the negotiated law – something that both the Commission and campaign groups warn risks undermining the EU’s international credibility. Natasha Foote reports. […]
The European Commission has officially put forward plans to slash environmental measures in the EU’s farming subsidy programme and offer up more power to member states in deciding the future course of the policy. Natasha Foote reports. […]
The European Commission plans to shift the EU’s farming subsidy programme from mandatory requirements towards a more ‘voluntary’ approach, proposing to slash or weaken a range of environmental measures, according to a leak of the EU executive’s plans. […]
“Given the technical, economic and social uncertainties identified in this report and the controversies raised by the development of NTG-derived plants, the Working Group recommends that a system be set up to monitor NTG plants and products derived from them…an assessment of the risks…should be carried out on a case-by-case basis”. […]
“The Commission is about to dismantle conditionality requirements that are based on unequivocal scientific evidence, and which it has explicitly acknowledged as being essential tools to address current climate, environmental, and biodiversity issues.” That’s according to a large number of organisations who have the EU Commission to urge it to reconsider the loosening of the CAP’s green architecture. […]
The EU’s food safety agency will put together a new opinion on the categorisation of new genomic techniques – NGT’s – (also called new GMOs or gene editing) on the request of the European Parliament, following reports from multiple national agencies calling into question the scientific validity of the proposed criteria. […]
The core acts of the EU’s farming subsidy programme could soon be once again up for grabs, with ministers backing a re-opening of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in efforts to make it lean and less green. Natasha Foote has more. […]
The Nature Restoration Law has passed the final stage of approval in the European Institutions, with its passing today in the European Parliament. What happened, what’s next? […]
Here we republish the joint statement, signed by 125 organisations, on the withdrawal of the proposal for the Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), the implications of this move, and what these organisations want to happen now. […]
Further exemptions to environmental measures, slashing on-farm checks and a get-out-of-jail free card for farmers that miss requirements due to exceptional circumstances. These these just some of the suggestions put forward by the Commission as part of efforts to lighten the administrative load on farmers. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention