Updates from the EU Commission, Council and Parliament
In this op-ed, Dr. Jeroen Candel, associate professor of food and agricultural policy, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, points to the failures of EU institutions to deliver on the Farm to Fork strategy, despite the impacts of worsening climate and biodiversity collapse. […]
Lawmakers from the European Parliament’s agriculture committee have greenlit their opinion on the EU’s plan to slash the use and risk of pesticides in half. The agriculture committee (AGRI)’s opinion calls for pushing the target date back from 2030 to 2035, scrapping a ban on the use of pesticides in sensitive areas and block the use of the EU’s farming subsidies programme (CAP) to fund pesticide reduction ambitions. So what does this mean and what’s next? Natasha Foote and Oliver Moore report. […]
The European Commission has doubled down on its stance to renew the authorisation of the controversial herbicide glyphosate for another decade despite mixed reactions from EU lawmakers, dismissing concerns over identified scientific data gaps. […]
Agriculture MEPs have dismissed outright a compromise amendment put forward to help fund farmers’ transition towards reducing the use of pesticides – and, in doing so, forfeited their only card to play in the debate on pesticides. Natasha Foote Reports. […]
European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič’s pitch to take over as Green Deal chief has fallen flat after failing to answer MEPs calls for details and timelines of the core sustainability files still missing in action. The Sustainable Food Systems Law and Animal Welfare legislation overhaul came in for particular attention. Natasha Foote reports. […]
With a number of key agrifood files missing-in-action or still jumping through legislative hoops as EU elections loom, the coming months will be the defining moment for the legacy of the Green Deal, the EU’s flagship policy for environmental sustainability. […]
The European Commission has proposed to renew the authorisation of the controversial herbicide glyphosate for a further 10 years meaning that, if member states give their go-ahead, its use in the EU will be allowed until 2033. Natasha Foote reports […]
In Brussels, resistance is brewing against the European Commission’s bold plans for new GMO technologies (NGTs) in plant breeding, unveiled on July 5. The stage for this showdown was set at the 10th GMO-Free Europe Conference, a collaborative effort between the GMO-Free Network and the Green European Parliament group. Here, a diverse coalition of 200+ experts, practitioners, scientists, consumers, and policy-makers converged to dissect the Commission’s proposal from every angle. Ashley Parsons reports. […]
The new proposal for Seed Marketing in the EU was presented by the Commission on July 5th. In 2013, a first attempt to revise this intricate legislation did not succeed in gaining parliamentary approval. So, what does the new proposal entail? And can we expect a different outcome this time around? […]
The Nature Restoration Law (NRL) has survived the European Parliament’s Plenary vote today, Though the Parliament adopted a significantly weaker NRL, the Council’s position is more environmental ambitious – and the Council tends to have the upper hand in these negotiations. This augers well for the NRL coming into force. […]
School’s out for summer – and soon, the Brussels bubble will check out too. But not before a slew of new and updated regulations and legislations, impact assessments and more, all have their moment in the sun. Soil, seeds and NGTs, food waste, pesticides and of course the nature restoration law – it’s all coming thick and fast in these heady days. Oliver Moore and Ashley Parsons guide you through the brimming lunchboxes of the Brussels bureaucrats in these final days before summer break. […]
The European Commission is proposing that plants that have been genetically modified at up to 20 different sites of the genome should be “considered equivalent to conventional plants”. This would be the end of the precautionary principle and transparent genetic engineering legislation as we know it. Op-ed by Benny Haerlin. […]
July 5 2023, ARCHE NOAH today released a statement in response to the EU Commission’s proposals for revised seed marketing legislation and the deregulation of “new genomic techniques”. Seeds4All
supports the statement, which raises the alarm about the threat these proposals present to the future of genetic diversity in Europe and calls on agriculture ministers and MEPs to protect farmers, consumers and biodiversity. […]
Today, the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health, and Food Safety (ENVI) finished voting on amendments to the Nature Restoration Law. No majority was found for the law as amended, as the vote was once again split 44-44. So what happened and what’s next? […]
The Nature Restoration Law took a step forward this week, with environment ministers from around Europe coming together to adopt an agreed position. 20 member states, representing over 2/3 of the EU’s population, voted to accept the file presented to them. This qualified majority means the Council now has a position for trilogue. So what happened and what’s next? […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention