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Wed 13 November 2024| View online Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes |
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| | | Fears over Mercosur deal drive farmers back to the streets |
| Farmers will return to the streets of Brussels today to call for the blocking of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. The main rally is expected at 11am at the intersection of rue de la Loi and rue des Taciturnes, to be followed by speeches by the organisers (the Walloon FUGEA and the European Coordination Via Campesina), other farmers’ associations, NGOs and MEPs, according to FUGEA. Brussels’ police said that from 5:00 Rue de la Loi (between Schuman and R20) and the Reyers tunnel coming from the E40 towards the centre would be closed, with traffic disruptions expected until late afternoon.
Angelo has the latest on farmers' concerns, and comments from would-be Commissioners on the deal.
Barnier is in town. Not only farmers will be back to the Belgian capital, French PM Michel Barnier is also in town to warn against a Mercosur trade deal agreement in a series of meetings with top Commission officials, Euractiv’s Théo Bourgery-Gonse reports. Tension over a potential conclusion of the deal is rising in France as well, where farmer demonstrations are expected to start next week and over 600 MPs signed an appeal asking von der Leyen not to sign the deal.
Close to an agreement? In a closed-door briefing on 11 November with MEPs, the European Commission floated the Mercosur summit in Montevideo (Uruguay) on 5-6 December as a possible date to sign the deal. The Latin American bloc has not yet reached a consensus on including a commitment to the Paris Agreement’s objectives in the agreement, a source revealed. The same source noted that the Commission remains uncertain about the deal's structure—whether to split it into two parts to ease the implementation of the trade elements.
Belgian MEP Benoît Cassart (Renew), a livestock farmer, stressed the importance of reciprocity in trade deals, particularly the need to apply the same environmental standards to both EU producers and trade partners. “There’s only one planet,” he stated. “If we’re protecting biodiversity here, we can’t accept practices that destroy it elsewhere.”
Amid rumors of a compensation fund for farmers, Commission sources told Euractiv that no such fund officially exists. Cassart criticised the idea, calling it “hypocritical,” and adding that “handing out compensation won’t motivate young people to pursue farming.” French MEP Arash Saiedi (The Left) echoed these remarks. “Farmers want fair payment for their work, not minimal compensation for the costs they bear while multinationals reap the benefits on both sides of the Atlantic,” he said. |
| | | No clarity on Várhelyi, decision postponed on vice-presidents |
| As Nicoletta Ionta reported yesterday, the MEPs decided to postpone the evaluation meetings for the six Commission’s executive vice-presidents (EVPs) candidates. The meetings are likely to be rescheduled for Wednesday (13 November) or next week - especially due to pressure from the Spanish PP – read EuroEFE’s article here (in Spanish).
A meeting of ENVI and AGRI coordinators to decide on the fate Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi is pencilled for today – but there is still no clarity on whether he could be confirmed before the vice-presidents.
Fitto’s plans for farmers. The green transition "needs a strong dialogue" with farmers as they are its "main actors", said Italy's Raffaele Fitto in response to a question from agriculture committee chair Veronika Vrecionová at yesterday's hearing. The would-be Commission vice-president stressed that the coordination of agricultural and cohesion policies, both of which fall under his portfolio, would focus on "rural and internal areas". These areas, which are at high risk of abandonment, need support for "generational renewal" to make "agriculture more competitive".
Ribera’s take on agrifood. Accused by several EPP MEPs of being too "radical" on the Green Deal and dismissing farmers' concerns, Spain's commission’s vice-president designate yesterday said she would "ignore nobody, least of all farmers", acknowledging their role in environmental preservation. Ribera hinted that a review of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), which does not cover agriculture, could be a way to boost the sector’s contribution to the fight against climate change. Asked by German MEP Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA) about breaches of competition rules in the food industry, Ribera vowed to “keep an eye on the market” to combat unfair practices and to protect consumers from price hikes caused by other factors. |
| | | Stakeholders discuss Agri ETS, food industry paying the most? |
| At a workshop organised by the Commission’s DG Clima yesterday (12 November), agrifood stakeholders discussed policy options to incentivise climate action, including an Emissions Trading System (ETS) for the farming sector.
A source who attended the meeting told Euractiv that an “on-farm” ETS, which would make farmers pay for pollution, was still on the table, despite it being the option with the least support among stakeholders. The most supported option was for food processors to use allowances to emit, with industry paying for most of the emissions. Other policy options discussed were increasing funding for carbon farming and introducing mandatory climate standards.
Yesterday’s meeting was part of a series to inform stakeholders about a study commissioned by the EU executive and carried out by Trinomics, IEEP, Ricardo, and Wageningen University, which will assess the feasibility of the different options. The first draft is expected by March 2025 and the final version in July.
During his confirmation hearing last week, agriculture commissioner-to be Christophe Hansen said that an Agri ETS may not be “the right approach” to improving sustainability, pointing out that the idea was floated but ultimately dropped by New Zealand. |
| | | NGOs call for ban on widely used herbicide |
| A coalition of 49 NGOs yesterday (12 November) sent letters to the European Commission and member states’ health ministries calling for a ban on the herbicide Flufenacet after EU’s food safety watchdog found potential endocrine disrupting effects on the thyroid.
Flufenaced is mainly used on winter crops such as wheat, barley and rye. Its authorisation expires in June 2025, and the NGOs are urging the EU executive to not to propose its renewal at the upcoming meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed on 4 and 5 December. EFSA’s opinion, published in September, also found a “high risk” to algae, birds, bees and worms for some uses. |
| | | Illegal fishing/1: EU decides not to renew agreement with Senegal |
| In a press release issued on Tuesday 12 November, the Delegation of the European Union to Senegal announced that the protocol implementing the fisheries agreement between Senegal and the European Union (EU) will not be renewed when it expires on 17 November 2024.
“In view of the shortcomings noted in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, the EU cannot consider renewing the protocol until Senegal has made sufficient progress in this area”, the press release states.
Last May, the Commission gave Senegal a 'yellow card' for its fight against illegal (IUU) fishing. European vessels - mainly French and Spanish - are responsible for less than 1% of total catches in Senegalese waters, mainly tuna and black hake, according to the delegation.
In total, “the fisheries agreement has enabled Senegal to earn 10 billion CFA francs (more than €12 million) over the period 2019-2024", explained the European Union's ambassador to Senegal, Jean-Marc Pisani, at a press conference. This involves contributions from shipowners for fishing licences and sectoral support for development. |
| Illegal fishing/2: NGO asks EU help to pressure Morocco |
| The NGO Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) today published an investigation showing that Morocco is increasingly practising driftnet fishing in its waters and in Spanish waters, despite the practice being banned by international, regional and Moroccan legislation. "Demand for Moroccan swordfish, especially from the EU, remains a key driver of this illegal fishing," said Jesus Urios Culiañez, EJF's Oceans Campaigner.
"We urge Morocco to improve its monitoring and control of illegal activities and, with the cooperation and support of the EU, to help fishing communities make a sustainable transition away from the use of drift nets by the end of 2025," said Steve Trent, CEO and founder of EJF, in a press release.
According to Trent, the use of illegal nets has more than doubled, from 370 vessels in 2004 to 846 in 2024. These nets are blamed for catching whales, sea turtles and sharks. Once abandoned or lost, they continue to trap species and pollute the marine environment. |
| | | Paris - Carrefour to apply Nutri-score on all online products Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard has asked food companies to “systematically apply the Nutri-Score” to products sold online, he warned in a letter sent to 550 suppliers yesterday. “If they do not, we will calculate the Nutri-Score for them and publish it on our site, unless they formally object, which will be notified to our customers’” Bompard added. Launched in France in 2017, the Nutri-score nutritional labelling system has sparked controversy among EU countries and in the food industry, with some food companies using it. Last September, one of them, Danone, announced that it would no longer display it because the new algorithm, which has governed the ranking in the colour-coded labelling system since January, gives an “erroneous view” of the quality of its products. |
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| | | Today’s briefing was prepared by the Agrifood team; Angelo Di Mambro, Maria Simon Arboleas, Sofia Sanchez Manzanaro, and Hugo Struna. Share your feedback or information with us at [email protected]. |
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