Latest from Brussels Archives - Page 14 of 38 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Poking Holes in Farm to Fork: Health Groups Take The Strategy’s Temperature

March 25, 2020 Natasha Foote

The Farm to Fork strategy aspires to fix our broken food systems while advancing the EU’s sustainability goals. In this three-part series we hear what environmental, health and farming organisations have to say about Farm to Fork so far. Here, Natasha Foote reports on some of the key voices in the health sector to bring us their take on the strategy as it currently stands. […]

Poking Holes in Farm to Fork: Environmental Groups Seek a Coherent Vision

March 24, 2020 Louise Kelleher

Healthy ecosystems are the foundation for food production, but they are pushed to breaking point by the current system. In the face of existential threats, Farm to Fork needs a coherent vision. Friends of the Earth Europe, WWF, Birdlife Europe, Greenpeace, ClientEarth and Pesticides Action Network weigh in on the European Commission’s Roadmap to food sustainability. […]

Coping with Covid19 – Letter from a Brussels Lockdown

March 21, 2020 Hannes Lorenzen

In our part of the street, some 100 meters, live 21 nationalities – we counted that at our last summer street festival, sharing food from across the world. Now we share our songs at 8 pm from our balconies, giving applause to the doctors and nurses trying to save lives. We are all Italians at this moment. We know we are just at the beginning of a huge challenge. We have no idea what is still to come. […]

The EU-CO summit was a no-go: so what’s next for CAP?

March 18, 2020 Natasha Foote

EU Leaders disagree on CAP, on how it should be funded, and on how that funding should be divided up between different priorities. Meanwhile, there are delays, the parallel farm to fork strategy, talk of transitional arrangements, and now, the global pandemic that is COVID-19 to deal with. Natasha Foote unpacks some of the details. […]

Food Fight – The Farm to Fork Strategy vs CAP

March 11, 2020 Oliver Moore

The Farm2Fork strategy is out for consultation at present, closing on 16th March. It is self-described as a sustainable food strategy is key to achieving the goals of the EU’s Green Deal. This strategy “sets out the regulatory and non-regulatory measures needed to create more efficient, climate-smart systems that provide healthy food, while securing a decent living for EU farmers and fishermen.” So how is the process unfolding, and how does – or will – it relate to the CAP? […]

Commission’s Dodgy Calculations Improve CAP’s Climate Impact

February 27, 2020 Louise Kelleher

The “Green Deal” Commission promises big spending on climate. If climate markers are to be believed, the current CAP accounts for 22% of the EU’s climate spending. The post-2020 CAP is poised to take even more climate credit. But the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) claims the Commission’s climate markers miss the mark. In a report released earlier this month the IEEP sounds the alarm on faulty climate accounting and greenwashing of direct payments. […]

Awkward Alignment – How will Green Deal Momentum and the CAP Process Work Together?

February 16, 2020 ARC

There are a number of policy imperatives coming together, all of which related in some way to farming, food and rural Europe. While CAP clanks on, the EU Green Deal and its Farm2Fork component have more ambition and perhaps momentum. But how will these policy proposals work out their differences, with pressure from some many angles bearing down on them? Oliver Moore sketches out the terrain. […]

Massive Pillar 2 Cuts Proposed by EU Council President

February 14, 2020 ARC

Cuts of E7.5 Billion to rural development in Pillar 2, but a small increase in Pillar 1 Direct payments, all as part of a reduced overall CAP budget have been proposed by President of the European Council Charles Michel. How will EU Leaders react at next week’s summit? […]

350,000 Tonnes of Pesticides Sold in EU Each Year – Still No Clear Picture of the Risks

February 10, 2020 Louise Kelleher

The European Commission needs to pull up its socks on pesticides says the European Court of Auditors. More than 10 years since the directive on the sustainable use of pesticides, it still isn’t doing enough to measure and reduce the risks, finds a report released last week. Louise Kelleher has more. […]

LEAK – Farm2Fork Draft Action Plan

January 30, 2020 ARC

ARC2020 has obtained a draft copy of the EU’s Farm2Fork Strategy on Sustainable Food Systems Draft Action Plan, as of 13th January. Download it in full in the article. […]

Rural Europe: Which Way to Go?

January 23, 2020 ARC

With the ongoing work on the CAP reform, Europe will have to respond to a wide range of new challenges, reflecting the ambitions of the EU Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy. To this end, an event was held on 22nd January which took a rural perspective on what’s needed in the months and years ahead. […]

Ag Commissioner Wojciechowski – Hope Springs Eternal?

January 13, 2020 ARC

In this opinion piece from Justyna Zwolińska, who hails from Janusz Wojciechowski’s home country of Poland, we hear some reasons for optimism about the recently appointed Commissioner: both his previous track record and his initial musings give cause for hope, Zwolińska contends. […]

Alan Matthews on the Current CAP process in Ireland

January 9, 2020 ARC

In this second of a two part series with Alan Matthews, we discuss his home country of Ireland and CAP. Oliver Moore speaks with Matthews on Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions; its increasing herd size, in particular in dairy; the success of the European Innovation Partnerships; the role of coops; issues facing the beef sector; diversification and more. […]

CETA Puts Pressure on Precautionary Principle, Glyphosate Implicated

January 9, 2020 Hans Wetzels

According to internal documents Canadian diplomats have used secret CETA-committees to weaken European regulation on glyphosate. Hans Wetzels reports. […]

Alan Matthews on the Current CAP Process | Part 1

January 4, 2020 Oliver Moore

Alan Matthews runs the CAPreform.eu blog, one of the best and most consistent sources of up to date, detailed analysis of all things CAP. Here we present part one from an interview between our own Oliver Moore and Professor Matthews. Part one is broad and introductory, looking at what the Commission has proposed and potential pitfalls. Part two is more specific and related to Matthews’ home country of Ireland. […]