Month: July 2026

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The three regulatory fixes that could turn Europe’s food labels into a One Health instrument

This post is contributed by Pablo Palencia Garrido-Lestache who is a veterinarian and consultant with over 25 years of experience in One Health and agrifood strategy. He served as the Regional Minister for Rural Development, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food in Cantabria, Spain. Throughout his career, he has led the development of strategic projects for cooperatives and the establishment of PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) frameworks, focusing on integrating living heritage and ecosystem services into legal structures to ensure the resilience of livestock production systems. info@iberap.com

Three targeted regulatory reforms could turn Europe’s system of protected food names into the most powerful instrument for public health, economic sustainability and commercial differentiation currently on the table. The cost of inaction is incomparably greater than the cost of acting.

Europe holds the world’s most powerful agri-food instrument and does not know it. Its three thousand Protected Geographical Indications (PGIs) and Protected Designations of Origin (PDOs) are recognised in trade agreements with Mercosur, India and dozens of international partners.… Read the rest

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Financing accession for new Member States

At the end of June, the Commission presented a Communication with a draft financial package for the accession negotiations with Montenegro for debate in the Council. This is the first step in concluding Chapter 33 on financial and budgetary provisions in the accession negotiations. It will allow the Council to debate these financial issues alongside work on the other remaining chapters, and on this basis the Commission will subsequently present to the Council a draft common position for negotiations on financial and budgetary provisions.

The package presented in the Communication assumes that Montenegro joins the EU on 1 January 2028 when the new MFF is planned to begin. This is a technical assumption, and the Communication makes clear that accession will happen only when Montenegro has fulfilled the conditions for membership and when its accession treaty is ratified by all parties. If Montenegro joins at a later date during the MFF period, the dates for phasing in payments will be adjusted accordingly.… Read the rest