Retailers say stricter rules for food supply chains won't improve farmers' situation

Good morning from Brussels,

Farmers across the EU have protested over rising costs and insufficient trade protection in the past months, prompting several EU leaders to call for a review of the balance of market power in the supply chain.

Among them, French President Emmanuel Macron stood out, calling for stronger EU legislation to ensure greater protection for farmers, the economically weaker players in the food chain.

In this context, the retailers’ association Eurocommerce has called for stricter rules against transnational purchase alliances to be avoided, our Agri Food hub reports.

A fight over the cross-border enforcement of low-emission zones is delaying an EU law that aims to facilitate cross-border enforcement of traffic offences, such as driving the wrong way and dangerous overtaking, to improve road safety—a story by Olivia Gyapong.

Negotiators from the European Commission, Council and Parliament struck a deal on the Platform Work Directive – for the second time – on Thursday, with all eyes now on member states, who have been asked to rubberstamp it today—an article from Théo Bourgery-Gonse who followed the entire gig work saga.
Meanwhile, the EU is expected to hit more Russian military and tech firms, including firms shipping ammunition from North Korea, as part of a new package of measures to mark two years since Russia invaded Ukraine. Alexandra Brzozowski has the story.

During a trip to Mauritania with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU will grant the country €210 million to curb irregular migration.

Relations between the European Parliament’s far-right ID group and the right-wing European People’s Party (EPP) seem to have cooled following the new addition of Eric Zemmour’s far-right party Reconquête!, with relations expected to cool even further if and when Orban’s Fidesz joins, Federica Pascale reports.

As we head towards EU elections in June, we have rolled out a revamped politics weekly newsletter to keep you updated. Check out the first edition, coordinated by Max Griera.

For those who missed it, feel free to check Eleonora Vasques’ exclusive interview with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola and Evi Kiorri’s podcast dedicated to the Greens congress.

Today's edition is powered by WindEurope

BERLIN

Germany adopts strategy to prevent global online censorship, experts unsure. While the German government believes its international digital policy strategy, adopted on Wednesday, will foster bargaining power on the international stage while preserving democratic values and ensuring access to the internet without censorship, experts lament the lack of concrete measures. Read more.

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PARIS

Former French tech minister Jean-Noël Barrot takes over EU portfolio in reshuffle. Jean-Noël Barrot, tech minister since July 2022, was appointed as new EU minister in the final stretch of the French government reshuffle late on Thursday. Read more.

MADRID

Council of Europe delegation visits Spain over amnesty law, rule of law. A delegation from the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission arrived in Madrid on Thursday to discuss details of the controversial amnesty law that would pardon Catalonian separatists involved in the unsuccessful and illegal 2017 independence bid, which Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez promised to push through in exchange for separatist votes in parliament. Read more.

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LISBON

Kyiv counts on Portugal and Brazil for peace plan. Ukraine is counting on Portugal and Brazil for the Kyiv peace plan because “all countries are suffering” from the war in Ukraine, a Ukrainian Presidency official has said. Read more.

PRAGUE

Czechia to abstain during EU Migration Pact vote. Czechia will abstain in the upcoming vote on the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact, said Transport Minister Martin Kupka (ODS) after this week’s cabinet meeting, adding that the pact’s new version is worse than the one Czechia helped prepare when it held the EU presidency in the second half of 2022. Read more.
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WARSAW

Poland is sceptical about 90% emission reduction target, cites economic concerns. Poland is unlikely to back the European Union’s new climate target of cutting CO2 emissions by 90% by 2040, citing the economic and social risks that come with speeding up the green transitions, Polish media reported. Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Slovakia eyes national food quotas in the constitution. The Slovak Minister of Agriculture, Richard Takáč, wants the constitution to require retailers to stock a defined minimum proportion of Slovak food on their shelves, despite the precedents of the Czech Republic and Romania, who were forced to abandon similar initiatives following a legal spat with the European Commission. Read more.

Slovakia greenlights divisive crime law reform, presidential veto imminent. After more than two months of obstructions and eight rounds of weekly protests across Slovak cities, the Criminal Code reform of Robert Fico’s government, which means dissolving the Special Prosecutor’s Office, reducing penalties and weakening whistleblower protection, has passed. Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgaria’s Constitutional Court rejected the far-right initiative on Thursday to hold a referendum to delay the country’s accession to the eurozone for at least twenty years. Read more.

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BUCHAREST

Romania allows rapid NATO deployment in case of highly serious threats. Romania has allowed the deployment of the high-readiness NATO rapid deployment forces on Romanian territory this year, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis informed parliament in a letter sent on Wednesday evening. Read more.

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BELGRADE

EU Parliament calls for investigation into Serbian elections. The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an independent international investigation into election irregularities in Serbia, with reactions in Serbia spanning between criticism and suggestions that the EU is actually keen to see democratic processes at work in Serbia. Read more.

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PRISTINA

Vucic refuses to sign EU agreements with Kosovo during showdown at UN Security Council. Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti again called on Serbian President Aleksander Vucic to sign the EU-mediated Brussels agreement during a face-off at the UN Security Council on Thursday, but Vucic refused and was scolded by the council president for interrupting and shouting in the assembly. Read more.

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor, Sofia Stuart Leeson]