Latest from Brussels Archives - Page 3 of 42 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Op-Ed | From Declaration to Action – Rethinking Rural Power in EU Policymaking

July 8, 2025 Edina Ocsko

Rural voices still seem to go unheard in EU policymaking. The Rural Pact Coordination Group proposes a new tool for rural stakeholders to take the power back: the Declaration on the Future of Rural Areas and Rural Development Policy in the European Union. After a recent test drive, Edina Ocsko unpacks why rural voices struggle to shape policy and identifies some concrete next steps. Op-ed by Edina Ocsko. […]

Op-Ed | Europe Must End The Double Standards In Toxic Pesticides Exports

July 2, 2025 Olivier de Schutter

A number of hazardous pesticides which are banned in the EU are freely manufactured and exported to other countries with weaker regulations, putting human health and the environment at risk. The EU also allows the import of produce grown with these banned pesticides. The End Toxic Pesticide Trade Coalition – a broad coalition of NGOs and trade unions – has launched a new campaign around the EU’s double standards. Op-ed by UN Special Rapporteurs Marcos A Orellana and Olivier De Schutter. […]

Fund the Future of Food & Farming: A United Call from Across Europe

June 11, 2025 ARC

The Good Food Good Farming (GFGF) movement is in Brussels with a clear message from 15 countries: the EU must stop enabling industrial agriculture and instead support a just agroecological transition. As decision-makers decide the future of EU funding, GFGF present a new position paper and grassroots demands as part of a united EU-wide call to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). […]

Mercosur Is Set To Sail – With Sore Points for Sustainability, Will The Deal Sink Or Swim?

June 4, 2025 Oliver Moore

After a quarter-century of talks, the EU-Mercosur trade agreement is closer than ever to the finish line. But is it a done deal, and who gets to sign off on it? How are the new more volatile geopolitical trade realities impacting decision-makers? And can it be stopped or changed at this late stage? Oliver Moore takes us through the choppy waters. […]

EU Throws The Wolf To The Wolves

June 2, 2025 Oliver Moore

Following votes at both Council and in Parliament, the status of the wolf in Europe is being downgraded from “strictly protected” to “protected”. So what’s happened to conservation of this apex predator – and why? Oliver Moore and Ashley Parsons report. […]

Pruning the EU’s Farming Policy: Have CAP’s Green Shoots Survived the Shears?

May 20, 2025 Natasha Foote

The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is once again being trimmed down to size, with the Commission reaching for the shears in an attempt to cut back what it sees as an overgrown subsidy programme. But it’s not just the deadwood that is being cut away, but also some of its remaining green shoots. Natasha Foote brings you the latest from Brussels. […]

LEAK – Sneak Peek At New EU Farming Policy Simplification Shake-Up

May 12, 2025 Natasha Foote

Leaner but not greener with a new era of flexibility and power to member states – these are some of the changes on the menu for the EU’s new plan to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy, according to a leaked document that ARC2020 got its hands on. Natasha Foote gives you a sneak peek of what’s to come. […]

A European Land Observatory – What’s In Sight?

May 7, 2025 Oliver Moore

Despite moves towards simplification, a Land Observatory is coming this summer. What’s more, there is broad consensus from both the Commission and farming organisations on the need for some more harmonised monitoring of land transactions. But how much power will – or should – such an Observatory have? What will it try to do? And which tools are in place at national and regional level? Oliver Moore takes us through the terrain. […]

Spilling Europe’s Dirty Secrets: Uncorking the Toxic Trade in Banned Pesticides

April 17, 2025 Natasha Foote

Pesticides deemed too toxic for Europe are still being produced here and sold abroad to be sprayed on fields where farm workers live, work, and raise their children – but these are also fields that help feed Europe. What is the human cost behind Europe’s toxic trade in banned pesticides? And, as the EU looks at ways to realign its trade standards, why does it continue to put profit over people? To uncork this double standard, ARC2020’s Natasha Foote reports from the ground in South Africa. […]

Why Simplification of CAP May Get Complicated

April 9, 2025 Natasha Foote

A simpler, streamlined EU farming subsidy programme can only be a good thing … right? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Here, Natasha Foote digs into what we currently know about the next simplification shake up of the Common Agricultural Policy and why keeping it simple is not always so straightforward. […]

EU Heads Towards Deregulation Of New GMO Technologies

March 18, 2025 Natasha Foote

EU countries have officially sealed their position on plans to loosen rules on the use of new genetic technologies, setting the ball rolling towards deregulation of new GMOs in the near future. But this isn’t the end of the story just yet. So what happens now? Natasha Foote brings you the latest from Brussels. […]

Scapegoating Green NGOs – The dangerous distraction of a corporate agenda

March 12, 2025 ARC

Green NGOs fight for the interests of civil society, but this is a tough fight when they have very limited resources to defend them compared to the agribusiness lobby. The EU’s LIFE Programme is a crucial funding instrument. Targeting of LIFE funding isn’t just an attack on NGOs; it strikes at the core of democracy and clears the way for corporate greed to wreak even greater havoc on our planet, argues Giulia Riedo of WWF in this op-ed. […]

New vote could take new GMOs one step closer to EU fields and plates

March 10, 2025 Natasha Foote

EU countries are teetering on the brink of an agreement which would take new GMOs one step closer to our plates and several steps back from current protections governing the technology. What’s happening, what’s at stake, and what does that mean for next steps? Natasha Foote breaks it all down for you. […]

Shortsighted Vision: Unpacking EU’s new agrifood policy plans

February 20, 2025 Natasha Foote

The EU has unveiled its new Vision for Agriculture and Food which, despite the name, is not exactly what you would call ‘visionary’. So what does the EU’s new agricultural game plan envisage – or not – for the future of the sector, and does this spell the official death of the Farm to Fork strategy? Natasha Foote breaks down all you need to know. […]

LEAK: A sneak peek at the EU’s new blueprint for agrifood policy

February 13, 2025 Natasha Foote

Tough on trade, but more lax on CAP – that’s a quick summary of the EU’s new blueprint for agriculture and food, according to a leaked draft that ARC2020 got its hands on. So what’s on the menu for agrifood policy for the next 5 years? Natasha Foote takes a first look at what the Vision envisages for the sector. […]