CAP reform

Priorities of the Danish Presidency in the area of Agriculture and Food

With the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union taking over as of January 2012, the Danish Minister of Agriculture spoke to both the European Parliament Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the EC DG Agriculture at their meetings on 23-25 January 2012. This article presents the most important issues to be dealt in the field of agriculture and food in the next 6 months. Work Programme of the Danish Presidency - Agriculture and Fisheries Unveiling the Danish (...)

EPHA position on the Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region

On 7 October 2011, the Marmot Review Team has launched a consultation on the European Review of the Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region. EPHA contributed to the consultation in the framework of our campaign on health equity EPHA Response to the Marmot Review Consultation on the European Review of the Social Determinants of Health and the Health Divide in the WHO European Region Visit the website of the UCL Institute of Health Equity (former the (...)

EPHAC Press Release: Legislative proposals for the CAP towards 2020 do not go far enough

The Commission published their vision for the Common Agriculture Policy towards 2020. The European Public Health and Agriculture Consortium (EPHAC) welcomes the European Commission’s recognition of the urgent challenges of climate change and increasing pressure on the world’s resources. However, EPHAC believes the proposals largely ignore public health and do not go far enough towards a truly sustainable food and farming policy. "The Commission Communication on the CAP in (...)

EPHAC response to the EC consultation on Green Paper on “Promotion measures and information provision for agricultural products: a reinforced value-added European strategy for promoting the tastes of Europe”

The European Commission launched a debate on the future of promotion and information schemes for EU agricultural products. EPHAC welcomed the opportunity to provide the European Commission with input on its Green paper on “Promotional Measures” and wanted to emphasise efforts to align promotion policy and budgets with the goals for Europe 2020 and public health. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is currently undergoing a reform process for a renewed policy aligned with the (...)

EU School Fruit Scheme budget to be cut by 30% from 2012 onwards

Currently, the EU School Fruit Scheme (SFS) is up in its second year of implementation, running in 24 Member States, reaching almost 5 million schoolchildren in 32.000 schools. However, in times of austerity, Member States in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) have suggested a cut of 29 % in budget. The EU School Fruit Scheme (SFS) builds on experiences from Members States and evidence from studies examining the effectiveness of school fruit schemes in increasing fruit (...)

European Court of Auditors evaluates the School Fruit Scheme as more effective than the Milk Scheme

The European Court of Auditor’s report concludes that the EU School Fruit Scheme (EU SFS) is more effective than the EU School Milk Scheme (EU SMS), while Member States plan to cut its budget by 30% from 2012 onwards. Auditors also recommend to use high nutritional quality foodstuff in each scheme. Although too early to properly evaluate the School Fruit Scheme, the ECA report - Are the School Milk and School Fruit Schemes effective? - concludes that the EU SFS seems to be more (...)

European Commission consultation on "Promoting the tastes of Europe"

The European Commission launched a debate on the future of promotion and information schemes for EU agricultural products. The deadline is the 30 September 2011. This is particularly relevant for the health community as it will touch upon the promotion of - inter alia - nutritious (and non nutritious) food, alcohol products. The objective of the consultation on the future of promotion and information schemes for EU agricultural products is to look at how agricultural products could be (...)

MEPs against sharp cuts to the EU food aid scheme

On 7 July 2011, MEPs called the Commission to take steps to prevent an immediate and sharp cutback in food aid to the poorest people in the EU following the cut in funding for the Most Deprived Persons Scheme from €500 million in 2011 to €113 million in 2012. This sudden reduction is set against a recent European Court of Justice ruling stating that the Food Aid scheme programme can only use food from intervention stocks and may not spend EU money to buy food supplies on the (...)

[EPHAC Press Release] Commissioners Dalli and Cioloş debate the Role of Public Health in the Common Agricultural Policy

***For immediate release*** 17 June 2011, Brussels Commissioners Dalli and Cioloş debate the Role of Public Health in the Common Agricultural Policy Yesterday, the European Public Health and Agriculture Consortium (EPHAC) welcomed the debate on the role of public health in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with high level participation by Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Cioloş, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli, Professor Tim (...)

Bold actions are necessary to make the CAP healthier - agree two Commissioners

On 16 June 2011, the European Public Health and Agriculture Consortium (EPHAC) with the support from the European Public Health Alliance, organised the debate on the role of public health in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with high level participation from Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy John Dalli. The main conclusions are below. Main conclusions of the meeting The Common Agriculture Policy can clearly (...)