Brussels 14/03/2013
Chairman Hans Van Es, Chair of Fruit and Vegetables Group of COPA/COGECA
1 Update on the Commission's activities
• DG AGRI - Emmanuel Jacquin, Head of Unit C2 (changes in regulation 288/2009, Commission Report on the SFS, the Impact Assessment and public consultation, the CAP 2020 proposal, SFS annual monitoring reports for 2011/2012, state of play on the expenditure, final allocation and national strategies for 2013/2014).
Gundula Kjaer, DG SANCO, Unit C4 - Health Determinants (HLG and Platform, Nutrition strategy evaluation, Pilot project, Food waste initiative)
• 3 pilot projects are supported by the European Parliament and implemented by DG SANCO.
• The first project (2012-2014), aims to increase consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables in local communities where household income is below 50% of the EU 27 average covering Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria.
• A similar pilot project will be launched in 2014 covering Poland and Hungary.
• The third pilot project concerns promotion of healthy diets targeting pregnant women, children, as well as elderly people.
More: School Fruit Scheme

The members of the European Parliament have submitted further amendments to the Commission’s proposals on the CAP towards 2020 reform. Although a draft negotiating mandate was voted on by the COMAGRI on 23-24 January, some 200 additional amendments have been published in view of the plenary meeting. Given this high number, an extra meeting of COMAGRI took place on Monday 11th March to skim the extra amendments; these new amendments got approval of 10% of the COMAGRI to be put forward to the plenary. All final amendments were presented for debate on 12th March at the European Parliament’s plenary and made a favorable vote on the first reading.
In parallel, at the Council level work is progressing: the Special Committee on Agriculture met on 4-5 March with an additional meeting scheduled for the 11-12 March. The Agricultural Ministers Council is expected to come to a final agreement on the CAP proposals at their meeting on 18-19 March.

CAP towards 2020 reform