EFBA is in the European press

26/01/2010

EFBA, together with IFTF, has recently started a communication campaign in the Parliament Magazine (www.theparliament.com). The Magazine, published every fortnight, is a direct portal to MEPs and other key EU decision makers and informs policy making in the EU. Special feature editions include as Green Week, Employment Week, the OECD Forum as well as the depth EU Presidency supplements. The fur sector is pleased to have this great opportunity to raise its voice and open the debate over a sector too often misunderstood due to full of distorted truths given for many years. The first publication, joined with IFTF, was a general overview over the role of the two associations and the importance of the fur industry. The one page advertising is available in the attached document.

 » Support Animal Welfare, Rural SME's and Consumer Information

EP vote of approval delayed for the new Commission College

22/01/2010

The initial Plenary vote on the full Commission College scheduled on January 26 will finally take place on February 9 after a delay caused by MEPs' refusal to approve the appointment of Bulgaria's Rumania Jeleva, nominee for European commissioner. Bulgaria's replacement nominee, Kristina Georgieva, a vice-president of the World Bank, will have a hearing before MEPs on 3 February. While Dacian Ciolos' nomination (photo), Romania's candidate for the European Commission, is not in any doubt after the EP Agricultural Committee sent a letter recommending his nomination. It was first a surprise however that someone from a country with a poor record of managing EU funds has been entrusted with a portfolio that receives the second-largest share of the EU's agricultural policy. But as previous head of the committee on agriculture, Ciolos showed fluent mastery of the detail of the EU's agricultural policy, as well as astute judgment of the political forces at play. If the vote on José Manuel Barroso's second team on 9 February is positive, the new Commission will be sworn into office at the European Court of Justice the following day and set to start work.

Debates have started on the new biodiversity strategy

21/01/2010

Declared this year as the ‘International Year of Biodiversity' by the United Nations, the European Commission published a communication, on 19^th January, that proposes a long-term (2050) vision for biodiversity, as well as four options for a mid-term target (2020). The text recognises that the EU failed to meet its 2010 target but the text is an essential step on the way towards meeting the new goals. The 10-page text states that there should be greater financial opportunities in favour of biodiversity under the Common Agricultural Policy, while biodiversity concerns should be embraced into all policy areas. In terms of the next steps, discussions on the issue will commence at a high-level European conference on the ‘Post-2010 biodiversity vision & target', scheduled to take place in Madrid on the 26-27 January under the Spanish Presidency. International negotiations will follow in Nagoya, Japan in the autumn, while the Commission pledges to bring forward a new EU biodiversity strategy by the end of the year. The communication of the Commission is available in the attached document.

 » Option for an EU vision and target for biodiversity beyound 2010

Climate Change and Biodiversity at the top priorities of the new EU Presidency

07/01/2010

From 1^st January, Spain is at the helm of the EU. One of the top priorities announced in the joint programme of the Troika presidency (Spain, Belgium and Hungary) is the fight against climate change.  But it will be up to Spain to start the evaluation, policies and measures that will result directly from the results of the Copenhagen climate conference. To this end, an informal meeting of energy and environment ministers will be held from 14 to 17 January in Seville. Other challenges are also on the horizon, like the revision of the drive to halt biodiversity loss within the framework of the International Year of Biodiversity (2010) and preparation of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the Biosecurity Protocol (11-29 October 2010, Nagoya, Japan).  Linked to these issues, the Spanish EU Presidency will pay attention especially to forest protection; prevention of natural disasters; water management and mainstreaming of the environment in all other policies in the context of a revised Lisbon strategy. Madrid is expected to launch the seventh action plan for the environment (the current plan expires on 21 July 2012), a task that will be continued by the Belgian and Hungarian EU presidencies. EFBA welcomes these initiatives. Taking care of the environment, our farmers use good management farming systems (e.g. recycling water, by-products...). We only breed domesticated animals and by this way contribute to the protection of the biodiversity.