INTERNATIONAL
CONFEDERATION
OF EUROPEAN
BEET GROWERS
News
The agricultural community in the EU faces several challenges: produce sufficiently for a growing population, produce sustainably to address environmental and climate change issues, ensure competitiveness in a sector that is exposed to international markets and generate a decent income. In this context, the Agriculture & Progress Platform's mission is to provide society and decision-makers with answers and proposals on the needs and challenges of guaranteeing sustainable agricultural production and to highlight the important role of innovation in this context.
On Thursday, the ENVI and AGRI Committees of the European Parliament will vote on their draft report presenting their official reaction to the Farm to Fork strategy. While the first studies on the impact of the strategy launched by the Commission in 2020 show extremely worrisome trends, MEPs are planning to call for several additional objectives and targets for the Commission Strategy that would be simply untenable for the EU farming community.
Following the result of the final trilougue between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission on the CAP reform, CIBE notes that the legislators have considered the sugar sector as a key one in these negotiations. Unfortunatley, this has not led to an adequate and concrete decision to make sugar eligible for public intervention and strengthen the resilience of the sector.
Following the anniversary of the Farm to Fork Strategy on 20th May, today several members of the Agri-Food Chain Roundtable on Plant Protection have released a co-signed open letter about the importance of a holistic assessment before making any decisions about the reduction of pesticide use, including the target of 50% reduction of the use of chemicals as set in the Farm to Fork Strategy.
Today marks one year to the day since the Farm to Fork strategy was presented in Brussels by the European Commission. However, we cannot celebrate its anniversary, as the strategy still raises too many questions in the European farming and agri-food community. A year of intense debate has only increased the number of our concerns.
On 19 April 2021, the Civil Dialogue Group on SUGAR which meets twice a year discussed the trade dimension of the Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy. Earlier this year, CIBE (International Confederation of European Beet Growers), CEFS (Association of European Sugar Manufacturers), together with EFFAT (European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions) had the opportunity to comment on the EU Commission Communication on the Trade Policy Review from 18 February 2021.
Ahead of the Agri Council meeting on 22-23 March 2021 which will discuss the state of play of the trilogue discussions between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission, on the CAP reform and in particular on the reform of the CMO Regulation, CIBE would like to express support to the position of the European Parliament on issues in relation to provisions to tackle crisis management, but also its deep concerns vis-à-vis the Council which appears to block progress in these discussions.
On 18 February 2021, the European Commission published a Communication on the new EU Trade Strategy based on openness, sustainability, and assertiveness.
CIBE (International Confederation of European Beet Growers), CEFS (Association of European Sugar Manufacturers), and EFFAT (European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions) welcomed the EU Trade Policy Review and are ready to contribute with their shared expertise in shaping the future trade policy framework for the EU sugar sector.
While discussions on the ratification of the trade agreement between Europe and the Mercosur countries resumed with the launch of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council, Copa-Cogeca, CIBE and AVEChave decided to launch a new campaign on social media to explainconcisely and with concrete examples the fears that this agreementraises in the farming community.
