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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 12698

15 April 2021
Contents Publication in full By article 7 / 35
SECTORAL POLICIES / Agriculture
MEPs give cautious welcome to EU action plan on organic farming
Brussels, 14/04/2021 (Agence Europe)

The European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee gave a cautious welcome on Wednesday 14 April to the European Commission’s proposals to develop organic farming.

“We will reach our target” said EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski confidently as he presented MEPs with the action plan to achieve a 25% share of the agricultural area devoted to organic farming by 2030 (see EUROPE B12686A21).

Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy) and Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy) stressed the need...

Contents

EU RESPONSE TO COVID-19
HEALTH: European Commission counting on Pfizer/BioNTech to avoid disruption of vaccine delivery schedule at later date
BUDGET: ‘NextGenerationEU’ will inject up to €806 billion into EU economy through spending and lending
HOME AFFAIRS: Member States give green light to European ‘digital green certificate’
TRADE: Valdis Dombrovskis makes proposals for fairer distribution of Covid-19 vaccines
SECTORAL POLICIES
HOME AFFAIRS: Commission gives itself 5 years to strengthen EU’s tools against organised crime and human trafficking
CLIMATE/FINANCE: EU Taxonomy, Commission runs risk of objection from European Parliament, says MEP Bas Eickhout
AGRICULTURE: MEPs give cautious welcome to EU action plan on organic farming
ENVIRONMENT: more than one million lawyers in Europe urge EU to respect Aarhus Convention on Access to Justice
ENERGY: TEN-E review, Commission proposal leaves too great a role for gas lobbies, says NGO report
INSTITUTIONAL
PROTOCOL: ‘Sofagate’, European Parliament group leaders call for better interinstitutional coordination
FUTURE OF EU: Vice-President Dubravka Šuica shares details on how Conference on Future of Europe will be funded
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: European Commission decides on new appointments in its energy and trade departments
ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
FINANCE: digital finance, European Parliament aims to strike right balance between innovation and protection
FINANCE: six EU Member States and UK commit to ending financial support for fossil fuel development abroad
COMPETITION: conditional approval of acquisition by Schwarz of some Suez group waste management companies
SECURITY - DEFENCE
UKRAINE: Ukrainian Defence Minister concerned about possible nuclear weapons in Crimea
CSDP: international cooperation improving in Mali, says Bléjean
DEFENCE: first meeting of European Peace Facility Committee on 21 April
EXTERNAL ACTION
DEVELOPMENT: in 2020, EU and its Member States maintained their position as world’s largest donor of official development assistance
TRADE: MEPs call on European Commission to speed up work on new anti-coercion instrument
TRADE: MEPs want details on role of EU delegations in implementing trade agreements
INDIA: Charles Michel calls for stronger relations with EU
IRAN: Germany, France and UK concerned about Iran’s attitude
SOMALIA: EU threatens sanctions if elections are not held
EDUCATION
EDUCATION: creative and cultural sectors could be target of European skills partnerships
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
EDUCATION: founded in 1990s, Schools of Political Studies of Council of Europe are nuisance in Russia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan
COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EU
STATE AID: despite Ryanair’s appeal, Finland is permitted to provide guarantee for Finnair
STATE AID: EU General Court dismisses Ryanair’s appeals against Swedish and Danish aid
NEWS BRIEFS
DEVELOPMENT: MEP Chrysoula Zacharopoulou is Co-Chair of Covax Facility Shareholders Council
UNITED STATES: Mr Borrell and Mr Blinken concerned about situation at Ukrainian borders
TAXATION: country-by-country reporting, EU co-legislators meet again on 23 April
JUSTICE: publication of full draft text of Second Additional Protocol to Budapest Convention
BETTER REGULATION: submission of Regulatory Scrutiny Board’s 2020 Annual Report
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: next plenary session will take place virtually from Brussels
UNITED KINGDOM: Commission and UK government to discuss Ireland and Northern Ireland Protocol in Brussels on Thursday