Last week both the AGRIFISH Council and the European Parliament agreed their negotiating mandates to enter the final stage of the approval process for the framework of the future CAP, thus opening the way for the trilogue process with the Commission to reach final agreement on the CAP legislation in the early part of next year.
Agreeing these positions was not without drama in either the Council or Parliament. The Council press statement announcing that its negotiating position had been agreed was issued at 04.43 on Wednesday morning 21 October 2020 after an extra night of negotiations following its two-day meeting. The voting on the Parliament’s amendments took place during the week under intense lobbying, and with cries of foul directed at the voting procedures used.
The very first amendment voted (AM1147) tabled by the Greens political group called for the rejection of the Commission proposal but only gained the support of 24% of those voting.… Read the rest