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22.01.2025

Industries: Agrofood

Legal Field | 01 – 15 January

Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Poland took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second time on 1 January 2025.

In this six-month period dedicated to the multiple dimensions of security, the Presidency will pay special attention to food security, through debates on a Common Agricultural Policy that incentivises, rather than obliges, farmers to limit climate change.

In the wider field of agriculture, the Presidency intends to protect vulnerable agricultural sectors, increase overall resilience and ensure that non-European producers comply with EU standards.

(see Polish Presidency Programme in Documents and studies)

 

Eurobarometer reveals strong support for the Common Agricultural Policy

According to the latest Eurobarometer survey, support for the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is at an all-time high.

The level of public awareness of the CAP is the highest it has been since 2007, with 78 per cent of respondents saying they know about the EU’s common agricultural policy.

More than 70 per cent of respondents agree that the EU, through the CAP, is fulfilling its role of providing safe, healthy and sustainable high-quality food.

According to the European Commission, this demonstrates a clear understanding and acute awareness of the fundamental role played by the EU’s agricultural policies.

(see Documents and studies)

 

European Commission: Vision for Agriculture and Food is one of the fourteen project groups set up by President Ursula von der

The President of the European Commission has set up fourteen project groups within the Commission to ensure, without prejudice to the decision-making process, the coordination of topical issues, key cross-cutting initiatives and horizontal policies.

The aim of the project groups is to ensure preparation and political guidance in the realisation of initiatives, from conception to implementation.

Project groups are created for an initial period of one year, which can be renewed for as long as necessary to fulfil the specific mission for which they were created.

If new priorities emerge that require the coordination of additional cross-cutting policy elements, new project groups can be created to respond to these emerging needs.

Each project group has its own mandate, composition, duration and working methods and will be chaired by a member of the College of Commissioners, appointed by the President.

The chairmen of the respective groups will be responsible for ensuring the proper fulfilment of their mandate.

The Vision Group for Agriculture and Food is chaired by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen.

Also of special interest to the agri-food sector, the Water Resilience Group is chaired by the Commissioner for the Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall, and the Startups and Scaleups Group is chaired by the Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva.

 

AGRI Parliamentary Committee: Highlights

On 13 January, the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development examined its draft opinion on the 2026 budget.

MEPs also debated the recommendations for the future of the EU wine sector issued last December by the High Level Group on Wine Policy.

They also discussed forest monitoring at a meeting organised jointly with the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).

On 22 November 2023, the Commission proposed a regulation on a monitoring framework for resilient European forests as part of the EU’s 2030 forestry strategy. The aim was to establish an integrated monitoring framework for forests at EU level, centred on a set of parameters related to EU policy priorities such as climate change, biodiversity, health, invasive alien species and forest management. The aim was to improve the information currently available, which is often based on outdated data and divergent definitions

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