The focus of the debates surrounding the Green Deal has shifted somewhat. The focus is now less on buildings, industrial plants and cars. Instead, the consequences for agriculture and food production are being discussed all the more lively. There is a lot at stake for the Christian Democratic party family. EPP leader Manfred Weber knows that he and his group can only become the strongest force again if he mobilizes the people in rural areas in the European elections.
The EPP wants to be perceived as Europe’s farmers’ party. That is why it is proposing the “Farmers Deal” to Europe’s farmers. That’s why it was so important for Ursula von der Leyen to address the situation of farmers for the first time in four years at the SOTEU in Strasbourg. And that’s why she’s holding a major agricultural conference in Brussels today.
The Commission President speaks to the participants via video link. Ministers and officials with EPP party membership have been invited from the member states. In two discussion rounds, moderated by Norbert Lins, head of the Agriculture Committee, and Herbert Dorfmann, EPP coordinator for agriculture, the EPP positions are highlighted on the topics: What role should environmental protection play in agriculture? Which economic and social goals are targeted?
This is not just about visions. Concrete statements are also expected. Once the elections are over, Parliament will soon set the course for the next period of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). That will certainly be exciting.
Tensions over imports of Ukrainian agricultural products into the European Union are growing. Speaking to journalists at the meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels yesterday (Monday), Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus questioned Poland’s participation in the joint coordination platform, saying lawsuits were feared. The joint coordination platform is a meeting of EU countries bordering Ukraine with representatives of the Commission and Ukraine.
“If we are on this platform and the Ukrainian side says it wants to cite us before the WTO, then any statement we make on this platform can be used against us”, Telus said. Kyiv has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary over their bans on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products.
“We are taking Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the WTO because trade policy falls under the exclusive competence of the EU. That is, all member states of the European Union should coordinate and agree on trade policy”, Taras Vysotskyi, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, told Table.Media.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary are maintaining import restrictions on Ukrainian grain despite the expiration of an EU regulation to that effect last Friday. He was “quite confident” that the lawsuit would succeed, as the measures taken by the three countries “violate international trade law”, Vysotskyi said.
Trade policy falls within the “exclusive competencies” of the European Commission, a Commission spokeswoman also stressed. The Commission will therefore evaluate the measures taken by Ukraine, as well as the actions of Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. At present, there are “no comments” on the actions of these three countries, the spokeswoman added. “But we must stress that our focus now is on making sure that the system that was announced last Friday works.”
Taras Vysotskyi also announced that he would submit measures “to control exports” to the European Commission, but gave no details. Ukraine has 30 days to “introduce all legal measures (including, for example, a system of export licenses) […] to prevent a rise in grain prices”, according to the text published by the Brussels executive last Friday.
Ukraine’s complaint was a dominant theme during the Council of EU agriculture ministers, Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told journalists. He called Ukraine’s reaction “quite surprising” and stressed that Ukraine was able to increase its exports to the European Union despite the introduced ban.
Wojciechowski raised the possibility of opening new routes to the Baltic states, which he said are open to the idea. “But these new routes mean higher costs, as they will increase transportation costs.” This point still needs to be clarified, he said.
For MEP Viola von Cramon (Greens), vice chair of the European Parliament’s Ukraine delegation, the three countries’ decision is a “clear breach” of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and a “significant breach” of EU “solidarity“. Since these member states are not abiding by the CAP and EU competences based on the treaty, “I think the EU should consider whether there are sufficient grounds to initiate infringement proceedings“, she told Table.Media.
“On a positive note, the European Commission has recognized that grain trade needs to be coordinated,” Norbert Lins, chairman of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, told Table.Media. “However, it would have been better to install the export license system and then open the borders. Here, the second step is being taken before the first.”
In May, the European Commission decided to block exports of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds to five neighboring countries: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. The latter had complained that the exports would destabilize their domestic market and reduce their farmers’ incomes.
Therefore, they had already unilaterally banned the transit of Ukrainian grain through their territory as of mid-April. Faced with this unprecedented situation, the Commission had finally supported the five countries with an exceptional assistance of €100 million, complemented by an embargo limited to these five member states.
Bulgaria had already announced last Thursday that it would lift all blockades, but Hungary, Poland and Slovakia took a different path. On Friday, even before the decision was announced, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had announced that the embargo would continue. That evening, just minutes after the Commission’s announcement, Poland and Slovakia followed suit, openly challenging Brussels.
Elections will be held in both Poland and Slovakia in the coming weeks. In Poland, the voter base of the ruling PiS party is strong, especially in agricultural regions. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “as long as PiS governs, we will protect Polish rural areas from any threat. We will not hesitate – unlike our predecessors – to tell Brussels to STOP”.
In fact, at yesterday’s meeting of the Agriculture Council, Poland raised the law on the restoration of nature, highlighting the impact of such a text on farmers. And this despite the fact that the Council – an exceptional event in the interinstitutional negotiations – presented a more ambitious text than the one adopted by the European Parliament.
Stricter regulation of e-cigarettes, tobacco heaters (heat-not-burn) and other novel tobacco products is to be the focus of future WHO efforts to curb tobacco use. This is according to the EU’s position paper for the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC). The paper is available to Table.Media.
The EU is paying particular attention to the regulation of single-use e-cigarettes. In its position, the EU states that disposable e-cigarettes “as well as nicotine pouches and other tobacco-free nicotine products should be monitored in the future”. Among other things, it is a matter of “strict regulation (…) to protect children and young people”. Disposable e-cigarettes are particularly popular with young people. In the EU, single-use e-cigarettes are to be banned by the Battery Directive in 2026.
The conference will be held in Panama from Nov. 20-25. Currently, the Commission is coordinating its position with the member states. Both the EU and the member states are full members. Guidelines will be adopted within the framework of the WHO-FCTC. Member states are required to translate these guidelines into legislation.
The COP is expected to adopt resolutions on content regulation and the declaration of tobacco products. In addition, guidelines for advertising and marketing of tobacco products are to be adopted for:
The goal of the EU at the FCTC conference is to verify whether the results of the conference are in line with EU tobacco laws, the position paper continues. The Commission’s position is critical of e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products: The EU notes “with concern the growing market for novel and emerging tobacco products, including heated tobacco products”.
To date, many countries have severely restricted advertising and sponsorship of cigarettes and conventional tobacco products in particular. In Germany, for example, advertising bans were implemented with great delay vis-à-vis many full members of the WHO FCTC:
The conference will now focus on advertising bans for e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products at the FCTC level. The Commission calls for a “comprehensive ban on the advertising of novel and emerging tobacco products, including devices used with them to enable their consumption”. Promotion of sales and sponsorship should also be restricted.
In its position, the EU explicitly acknowledges failures with regard to the regulation of novel tobacco products. It says the tobacco industry has been able to “increase the market presence of novel and new tobacco products in the meantime”. It adds: “This may have led to a delay in the preparation and implementation of effective tobacco control measures in relation to these products, including heated tobacco products.”
The Commission notes that WHO has not yet clarified whether “combustion occurs during the use of heated tobacco products”. The tobacco industry and many scientific studies explain that carcinogenic substances are released primarily during the combustion processes of cigarettes and other classic tobacco products.
The use of e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products such as tobacco heaters is less harmful to health because combustion processes do not occur. Therefore, e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products such as tobacco heaters are also suitable as a substitute product for addicted smokers who are unable to quit cigarettes in any other way.
At no point in its opinion does the Commission express whether it considers e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products to be less harmful to health than conventional tobacco products. Rather, it calls for “appropriate taxation”. Taxes are an “important instrument in the context of the tobacco control strategy”.
The Commission had announced that it would make a proposal for the revision of the Tobacco Tax Directive before the end of this year. So far, e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products are only subject to tobacco tax in some member states – such as Germany.
According to the EU paper, the WHO wants to collect financial contributions from companies in the tobacco industry. The money is to be used to support the work of the FCTC.
The Commission adopted the EU position for COP 10 on Sept. 7. Member states received the position last week and were due to submit their initial comments by Sept. 18. Member states expressed anger in the Council working group that the Commission delayed delivering its position.
Berîvan Aymaz comes from a family of politicians. Her father was mayor of Bingöl, the town of her birth in Turkey. For years, he was the youngest mayor in the country, says Aymaz. He later became cultural attaché at the Turkish Embassy in Bonn, and in 1978 Aymaz moved to Germany with her family when she was six years old. “I didn’t know any German at all”, she says in a conversation in her constituency. “The mother of a school friend organized for me to learn German with her daughter four times a week.”
An experience that was also important later for her time as spokeswoman for refugee policy. “The commitment and willingness to help of individuals are very important and such tandem projects are very valuable. They bring people together and make it easier for new immigrants to arrive.”
Aymaz graduated from high school in Cologne Kalk in 1990, then began studying law at the University of Cologne. While still a student, she worked as a translator. At the time, she co-founded the Kurdish Community of Germany and was its first secretary general until 2003.
“I come from a human rights background, and in this context the Greens have been important allies for my political work since the 1990s.” Back then, she regularly exchanged ideas with leading Greens like Claudia Roth, Aymaz says. She became a member of the party, served on the Cologne City Council and has been in the state parliament of NRW since 2017. Aymaz has also been vice president of the parliament since June 2022.
One idea to strengthen Europe from the black-green coalition in NRW is “Europe checks”. Citizens are to be able to apply for money for European projects or events unbureaucratically. A total of €1 million is available.
The shift to the right in Europe fills her with great concern. “It is all the more important that we continuously strengthen European education. Because Europe lives from the bottom up, from the individual people,” says Aymaz. “With the Europe Checks, we want to strengthen civil society European projects. I hope that migrant associations will also make use of this.”
Aymaz is a prominent critic of the European asylum reform. In particular, she criticizes the fact that not even families with children are to be exempted from detention-like camps for border procedures, as she clarified in an interview with Table.Media (available in German only).
“I am counting and hoping very much for a course correction by the European Parliament”, she says. The trilogue is still pending, she said, and the decision of the EU interior ministers is not the final version. “We have had an intense debate on the issue and also many Green MEPs have clearly said that they find the decision wrong.”
She said the small party conference also showed that the Greens were united against the current decision. “We Greens are a party that stands for humanitarian values and solidarity.” Tom Schmidtgen
The focus of the debates surrounding the Green Deal has shifted somewhat. The focus is now less on buildings, industrial plants and cars. Instead, the consequences for agriculture and food production are being discussed all the more lively. There is a lot at stake for the Christian Democratic party family. EPP leader Manfred Weber knows that he and his group can only become the strongest force again if he mobilizes the people in rural areas in the European elections.
The EPP wants to be perceived as Europe’s farmers’ party. That is why it is proposing the “Farmers Deal” to Europe’s farmers. That’s why it was so important for Ursula von der Leyen to address the situation of farmers for the first time in four years at the SOTEU in Strasbourg. And that’s why she’s holding a major agricultural conference in Brussels today.
The Commission President speaks to the participants via video link. Ministers and officials with EPP party membership have been invited from the member states. In two discussion rounds, moderated by Norbert Lins, head of the Agriculture Committee, and Herbert Dorfmann, EPP coordinator for agriculture, the EPP positions are highlighted on the topics: What role should environmental protection play in agriculture? Which economic and social goals are targeted?
This is not just about visions. Concrete statements are also expected. Once the elections are over, Parliament will soon set the course for the next period of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). That will certainly be exciting.
Tensions over imports of Ukrainian agricultural products into the European Union are growing. Speaking to journalists at the meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels yesterday (Monday), Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus questioned Poland’s participation in the joint coordination platform, saying lawsuits were feared. The joint coordination platform is a meeting of EU countries bordering Ukraine with representatives of the Commission and Ukraine.
“If we are on this platform and the Ukrainian side says it wants to cite us before the WTO, then any statement we make on this platform can be used against us”, Telus said. Kyiv has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary over their bans on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products.
“We are taking Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the WTO because trade policy falls under the exclusive competence of the EU. That is, all member states of the European Union should coordinate and agree on trade policy”, Taras Vysotskyi, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, told Table.Media.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary are maintaining import restrictions on Ukrainian grain despite the expiration of an EU regulation to that effect last Friday. He was “quite confident” that the lawsuit would succeed, as the measures taken by the three countries “violate international trade law”, Vysotskyi said.
Trade policy falls within the “exclusive competencies” of the European Commission, a Commission spokeswoman also stressed. The Commission will therefore evaluate the measures taken by Ukraine, as well as the actions of Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. At present, there are “no comments” on the actions of these three countries, the spokeswoman added. “But we must stress that our focus now is on making sure that the system that was announced last Friday works.”
Taras Vysotskyi also announced that he would submit measures “to control exports” to the European Commission, but gave no details. Ukraine has 30 days to “introduce all legal measures (including, for example, a system of export licenses) […] to prevent a rise in grain prices”, according to the text published by the Brussels executive last Friday.
Ukraine’s complaint was a dominant theme during the Council of EU agriculture ministers, Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told journalists. He called Ukraine’s reaction “quite surprising” and stressed that Ukraine was able to increase its exports to the European Union despite the introduced ban.
Wojciechowski raised the possibility of opening new routes to the Baltic states, which he said are open to the idea. “But these new routes mean higher costs, as they will increase transportation costs.” This point still needs to be clarified, he said.
For MEP Viola von Cramon (Greens), vice chair of the European Parliament’s Ukraine delegation, the three countries’ decision is a “clear breach” of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and a “significant breach” of EU “solidarity“. Since these member states are not abiding by the CAP and EU competences based on the treaty, “I think the EU should consider whether there are sufficient grounds to initiate infringement proceedings“, she told Table.Media.
“On a positive note, the European Commission has recognized that grain trade needs to be coordinated,” Norbert Lins, chairman of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, told Table.Media. “However, it would have been better to install the export license system and then open the borders. Here, the second step is being taken before the first.”
In May, the European Commission decided to block exports of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds to five neighboring countries: Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. The latter had complained that the exports would destabilize their domestic market and reduce their farmers’ incomes.
Therefore, they had already unilaterally banned the transit of Ukrainian grain through their territory as of mid-April. Faced with this unprecedented situation, the Commission had finally supported the five countries with an exceptional assistance of €100 million, complemented by an embargo limited to these five member states.
Bulgaria had already announced last Thursday that it would lift all blockades, but Hungary, Poland and Slovakia took a different path. On Friday, even before the decision was announced, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had announced that the embargo would continue. That evening, just minutes after the Commission’s announcement, Poland and Slovakia followed suit, openly challenging Brussels.
Elections will be held in both Poland and Slovakia in the coming weeks. In Poland, the voter base of the ruling PiS party is strong, especially in agricultural regions. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that “as long as PiS governs, we will protect Polish rural areas from any threat. We will not hesitate – unlike our predecessors – to tell Brussels to STOP”.
In fact, at yesterday’s meeting of the Agriculture Council, Poland raised the law on the restoration of nature, highlighting the impact of such a text on farmers. And this despite the fact that the Council – an exceptional event in the interinstitutional negotiations – presented a more ambitious text than the one adopted by the European Parliament.
Stricter regulation of e-cigarettes, tobacco heaters (heat-not-burn) and other novel tobacco products is to be the focus of future WHO efforts to curb tobacco use. This is according to the EU’s position paper for the tenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC). The paper is available to Table.Media.
The EU is paying particular attention to the regulation of single-use e-cigarettes. In its position, the EU states that disposable e-cigarettes “as well as nicotine pouches and other tobacco-free nicotine products should be monitored in the future”. Among other things, it is a matter of “strict regulation (…) to protect children and young people”. Disposable e-cigarettes are particularly popular with young people. In the EU, single-use e-cigarettes are to be banned by the Battery Directive in 2026.
The conference will be held in Panama from Nov. 20-25. Currently, the Commission is coordinating its position with the member states. Both the EU and the member states are full members. Guidelines will be adopted within the framework of the WHO-FCTC. Member states are required to translate these guidelines into legislation.
The COP is expected to adopt resolutions on content regulation and the declaration of tobacco products. In addition, guidelines for advertising and marketing of tobacco products are to be adopted for:
The goal of the EU at the FCTC conference is to verify whether the results of the conference are in line with EU tobacco laws, the position paper continues. The Commission’s position is critical of e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products: The EU notes “with concern the growing market for novel and emerging tobacco products, including heated tobacco products”.
To date, many countries have severely restricted advertising and sponsorship of cigarettes and conventional tobacco products in particular. In Germany, for example, advertising bans were implemented with great delay vis-à-vis many full members of the WHO FCTC:
The conference will now focus on advertising bans for e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products at the FCTC level. The Commission calls for a “comprehensive ban on the advertising of novel and emerging tobacco products, including devices used with them to enable their consumption”. Promotion of sales and sponsorship should also be restricted.
In its position, the EU explicitly acknowledges failures with regard to the regulation of novel tobacco products. It says the tobacco industry has been able to “increase the market presence of novel and new tobacco products in the meantime”. It adds: “This may have led to a delay in the preparation and implementation of effective tobacco control measures in relation to these products, including heated tobacco products.”
The Commission notes that WHO has not yet clarified whether “combustion occurs during the use of heated tobacco products”. The tobacco industry and many scientific studies explain that carcinogenic substances are released primarily during the combustion processes of cigarettes and other classic tobacco products.
The use of e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products such as tobacco heaters is less harmful to health because combustion processes do not occur. Therefore, e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products such as tobacco heaters are also suitable as a substitute product for addicted smokers who are unable to quit cigarettes in any other way.
At no point in its opinion does the Commission express whether it considers e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products to be less harmful to health than conventional tobacco products. Rather, it calls for “appropriate taxation”. Taxes are an “important instrument in the context of the tobacco control strategy”.
The Commission had announced that it would make a proposal for the revision of the Tobacco Tax Directive before the end of this year. So far, e-cigarettes and novel tobacco products are only subject to tobacco tax in some member states – such as Germany.
According to the EU paper, the WHO wants to collect financial contributions from companies in the tobacco industry. The money is to be used to support the work of the FCTC.
The Commission adopted the EU position for COP 10 on Sept. 7. Member states received the position last week and were due to submit their initial comments by Sept. 18. Member states expressed anger in the Council working group that the Commission delayed delivering its position.
Berîvan Aymaz comes from a family of politicians. Her father was mayor of Bingöl, the town of her birth in Turkey. For years, he was the youngest mayor in the country, says Aymaz. He later became cultural attaché at the Turkish Embassy in Bonn, and in 1978 Aymaz moved to Germany with her family when she was six years old. “I didn’t know any German at all”, she says in a conversation in her constituency. “The mother of a school friend organized for me to learn German with her daughter four times a week.”
An experience that was also important later for her time as spokeswoman for refugee policy. “The commitment and willingness to help of individuals are very important and such tandem projects are very valuable. They bring people together and make it easier for new immigrants to arrive.”
Aymaz graduated from high school in Cologne Kalk in 1990, then began studying law at the University of Cologne. While still a student, she worked as a translator. At the time, she co-founded the Kurdish Community of Germany and was its first secretary general until 2003.
“I come from a human rights background, and in this context the Greens have been important allies for my political work since the 1990s.” Back then, she regularly exchanged ideas with leading Greens like Claudia Roth, Aymaz says. She became a member of the party, served on the Cologne City Council and has been in the state parliament of NRW since 2017. Aymaz has also been vice president of the parliament since June 2022.
One idea to strengthen Europe from the black-green coalition in NRW is “Europe checks”. Citizens are to be able to apply for money for European projects or events unbureaucratically. A total of €1 million is available.
The shift to the right in Europe fills her with great concern. “It is all the more important that we continuously strengthen European education. Because Europe lives from the bottom up, from the individual people,” says Aymaz. “With the Europe Checks, we want to strengthen civil society European projects. I hope that migrant associations will also make use of this.”
Aymaz is a prominent critic of the European asylum reform. In particular, she criticizes the fact that not even families with children are to be exempted from detention-like camps for border procedures, as she clarified in an interview with Table.Media (available in German only).
“I am counting and hoping very much for a course correction by the European Parliament”, she says. The trilogue is still pending, she said, and the decision of the EU interior ministers is not the final version. “We have had an intense debate on the issue and also many Green MEPs have clearly said that they find the decision wrong.”
She said the small party conference also showed that the Greens were united against the current decision. “We Greens are a party that stands for humanitarian values and solidarity.” Tom Schmidtgen
