The European Commission received the go-ahead Monday to slap a two-year ban across the European Union on the use of pesticides blamed for a sharp decline in bee populations, an EU diplomat said. A key committee cleared the way for the European Union executive to implement a two-year moratorium on three pesticides that is expected to enter into force late this year, a diplomat told...
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EU states are to vote shortly on a proposal to restrict the use of pesticides linked to bee deaths in scientific studies. There is great concern across Europe about the collapse of bee populations. Neonicotinoid chemicals in sprays are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators. But many farmers and...
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In 2011, energy from renewable sources was estimated to have contributed 13.0% of gross final energy consumption in the EU27, compared with 7.9% in 2004 and 12.1% in 2010. The share of renewables in gross final energy consumption is one of the headline indicators of the Europe 2020 strategy. The target for the EU27 to be reached by 2020 is a share of 20% renewable energy use in gross final...
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The European Commission has approved 22 programmes to promote agricultural products in the European Union and in third countries. The total budget of the programmes, the large majority of which will run for a period of three years, is € 71,94 million, of which the EU contributes € 35,97 million. The selected programmes cover olive oil, milk and milk products, meat, fresh and...
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In an acknowledgement that agricultural policy has been knocked off course by prolonged deal-making, the European Commission on Thursday (18 April) announced plans for a year-long transition to give farmers and administrators time to implement the still-undecided policies. Millions of farmers who receive direct payments under the CAP will continue to be paid under existing rules, while...
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The European Commission adopted its School Fruit Scheme implementation strategy for 2013/2014. Bulgaria will receive an extra 1 396 636 BGN, which makes EU funding reach 4 189 910 BGN. This is 50% more than the initially allocated budget. With the national co-financing, the budget will total 5 586 547 BGN. Bulgaria petitioned for extra funding because it reached a high absorption rate in...
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Under the Common Agricultural Policy, EU rural development policy grants are made available to enterprises that process and market agricultural products through a measure called ‘Adding value to agricultural and forestry products’ that aims to improve the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry. The EU budget has earmarked € 5.6 billion in aid for 2007-2013. This financing...
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The European Commission is proposing EU-wide methods to measure the environmental performance of products and organisations, and encouraging Member States and the private sector to take them up. Today, companies wanting to highlight the environmental performance of their products face numerous obstacles. They have to choose between several methods promoted by governments and private...
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