The EU agriculture ministers will be meeting from Sunday 3 to Tuesday 5 September in Cordoba, Spain, to discuss the proposal on new genomic techniques. Other issues will be discussed at this informal meeting chaired by the Spanish minister, Luis Planas, including the proposal on the sustainable use of pesticides and on Ukrainian cereals.
The topic of the ministerial debate on Tuesday 5 September is the search for innovative solutions using new technologies to make agriculture more sustainable and competitive in the face of climate change and its consequences. A working document has been submitted by the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council to the Agriculture Ministers, which includes a general section on food safety issues and research contributions, and another on the proposal for new genomic techniques (NGT). The Spanish Presidency hopes to bring the EU Council to a common position on NGTs by the end of 2023. A Council working group will begin a technical examination of the text on 11 September.
The ministers support the broad lines of the text proposed last July, which aims to facilitate the cultivation of plants derived from these techniques. The Commission plans to classify them in two categories: the first for those equivalent to what could be found in nature or produced by conventional breeding (being exempt from the obligations of the GMO Directive), the second which could benefit from a lighter assessment procedure on a case-by-case basis.
On the issue of pesticides, the Spanish Presidency hopes to make progress in negotiations during its Presidency of the EU Council.
Ukrainian cereals. Another issue that is sure to come up is the question of Ukrainian cereal imports, as the restrictions imposed by the EU to protect farmers in neighbouring countries expire on 15 September.
On Thursday 31 August, Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, who still has to convince the entire College of Commissioners, proposed extending the restrictions imposed on Ukrainian cereal imports into the EU until at least the end of the year (see EUROPE 13240/2). EU countries are divided.
To facilitate the transit of Ukrainian cereals through the EU, the Commission sent a team of experts to Romania on 1 and 2 September. They must explore ways of improving the transit of goods through solidarity corridors in particular. This work is part of the ‘Joint Coordination Platform on Ukrainian Exports’. The experts - led by Michael Hager, Head of Cabinet for EU Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis - plan to visit several ports and meet with local authorities, hauliers and various operators.
A meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA ) will be held on Monday 4 September in Cordoba. The experts are due to take stock of the state of negotiations on the revision of the rules on geographical indications (GIs). The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council hopes to reach an agreement with the European Parliament in a final trilogue during the week of 9 October.
The SCA will hold an exchange of views on ways of ‘fostering the resilience of European food systems in a context of open strategic autonomy’, on the basis of a document submitted on this subject. It is expected to give the green light to two delegated acts granting flexibility to fruit and vegetable producer organisations to help them cope with this summer’s bad weather.
Events. A demonstration by Spanish farmers will take place on 5 September in Cordoba, at the time of the informal meeting of ministers. This event is organised by the Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias and the organisations Asaja, COAG and UPA. Spanish farmers are demanding a change to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) so that food is considered a top priority. The EU’s agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) are supporting this demonstration. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur, with Léa Marchal)