The European Parliament adopted by 487 votes to 130, with 71 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulations (EU) No 1308/2013 establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products, (EU) No 1151/2012 on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs, (EU) No 251/2014 on the definition, description, presentation, labelling and the protection of geographical indications of aromatised wine products and (EU) No 228/2013 laying down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union.
The European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the Commission's proposal as follows:
A more sustainable and greener Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
The regulation stressed that the new CAP will be more result-driven, stimulate modernisation and sustainability, including the economic, social, environmental and climate sustainability of the agricultural and forestry sectors and of rural areas, and contribute to reducing the administrative burden that EU legislation places on beneficiaries.
Under the new rules, the EU will set the basic policy parameters, such as the objectives of the CAP and its basic requirements, while Member States should bear greater responsibility as to how they meet the objectives and achieve targets.
Marketing years
Under the amending Regulation, the following marketing years are established:
- from 1 January to 31 December of a given year for the fruit and vegetables, processed fruit and vegetables and bananas sectors;
- from 1 April to 31 March of the following year for the dried fodder and silkworm sectors;
- from 1 July to 30 June of the following year for: (i) the cereals sector; (ii) the seeds sector; (iii) the flax and hemp sector; (iv) the milk and milk products sector;
- from 1 August to 31 July of the following year for the wine sector;
- from 1 September to 31 August of the following year for the rice and table olives sector;
- from 1 October to 30 September of the following year for the sugar sector and olive oil.
In the light of the experience gained, certain public intervention periods should be extended. Where the opening of public intervention is automatic, the public intervention period should be extended by one month. Where the opening of public intervention depends on market developments, the public intervention period should be the entire year.
The public intervention periods should be as follows: (a) common wheat, from 1 October to 31 May; (b) durum wheat, barley and maize, throughout the year; (c) paddy rice, throughout the year; (d) beef and veal, throughout the marketing year; (e) butter and skimmed milk powder, from 1 February to 30 September.
Each year the Commission should make public the conditions under which products bought in under public intervention were bought or sold in the previous year. This information should include the relevant volumes and the buying and selling prices.
Furthermore, in order to ensure a fair standard of living and to stabilise the market for olive oil and table olives, the regulation extends the list of products eligible for private storage aid to include table olives.
Aid for the supply of fruit and vegetables, milk and milk products to schools
Member States should choose the products to be featured in distribution or to be included in accompanying educational measures on the basis of objective criteria which shall include one or more of the following: health and environmental considerations, seasonality, variety and the availability of local or regional produce, giving priority to the extent practicable to products originating in the Union.
Member States may encourage in particular local or regional purchasing, organic products, short supply chains or environmental benefits, including sustainable packaging. Member States may consider, in their strategies, prioritising sustainability and fair-trade considerations.
Wine sector
The regulation stressed the need to secure the achievements of the EU wine sector up to now and to achieve a long-lasting quantitative and qualitative balance in the sector through the continued orderly growth of vine plantings beyond 2030.
To this end, the regulation extends the scheme of authorisations for vine planting until 2045, i.e. for a period equivalent to the initial period in force since 2016, but with two mid-term reviews to be carried out in 2028 and 2040, in order to evaluate the scheme and, if necessary, to present proposals based on the results of these mid-term reviews to improve the competitiveness of the wine sector.
In order to contribute to a better soil management in viticulture, it is appropriate to allow for the extension of the validity of replanting authorisations from three to six years where the replanting takes place on the same parcel of land. All authorisations for new plantings or replanting that were due to expire in 2020 or 2021 will be extended until 31 December 2022.
The regulation clarifies the definition of protected designation of origin for wines. It clarifies that Member States that limit the issuing of authorisations at regional level for specific areas eligible for the production of wines with a protected designation of origin or for areas eligible for the production of wines with a protected geographical indication may require such authorisations to be used in those regions.
In addition, designations of origin and geographical indications in the wine sector should also be protected against any direct or indirect commercial use where they refer to products used as ingredients.
Extending the supply management rules to all sectors
In view of the importance of protected designations of origin (PDOs) and protected geographical indications (PGIs) in the Union's agricultural production, and given the successful introduction of supply management rules for cheeses and dry-cured hams under geographical indications in ensuring the added value of these products, the regulation provides for the benefits of these rules to be extended to products with a protected designation of origin or a protected geographical indication under Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 or Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012.
The regulation streamlines and simplifies the procedures for the registration of protected designations of origin, protected geographical indications and traditional specialities guaranteed which are provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012, so that new names can be registered in a shorter timeframe. The opposition procedure has been simplified.
In addition, the procedure for approving amendments to the product specification provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 has been simplified by introducing a distinction between Union amendments and standard amendments.
Union market observatories
In order to improve transparency within the food supply chain, to inform the choices of economic operators and public authorities, to facilitate the monitoring of market developments and threats of market disturbances, the Commission should establish EU market observatories.
The observatories should make available the statistical data and information, in particular on: (a) production, supply and stocks; (b) prices, costs and, as far as possible, profit margins at all levels of the food supply chain; (c) short- and medium-term market forecasts; (d) imports and exports of agricultural products.