Europatat, European Potato Trade Association
  Europatat Circular 6 / 2020   Print this newsletter Default font size Large font size XL font size  ¦   
   
 

Inside this issue:

Activities Europatat

Agricultural Policy

Plant Health Policy

Food Safety

Market Access

Trade Policy

Sustainability

Other

  
 

CANCELLED - Europatat Congress 2020
Activities Europatat

Over the last few weeks the coronavirus outbreak has caused widespread disruption to businesses around the world. As the virus continues to spread we have had to tackle the difficult decision as to what we should do with our own annual Europatat Conference event that is due to take place as you know from 11-12 June this year at the Hotel Amigo in Brussels.

After very careful consideration of the current circumstances together with the Board, we have decided not to proceed with the event. If you had already registered for the Europatat Congress 2020, you will receive a separate email with further information about the refund of your registration.

We appreciate that members will have many priorities that they will be wanting to address over the coming months and across the rest of the year. As such we feel that the best course of action would be not to reschedule our event for this year.

We had worked in earnest and with much enthusiasm on this year’s theme around digitalisation, and in order to keep the topic alive, we will be still holding this year’s statutory Annual General Meeting but virtually on Thursday 11 June. We will give your more details in the following weeks, thank you for your understanding.

 

Europatat’s letter to EU agriculture Commissioner on the impact of COVID-19
Activities Europatat

In view of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Ministries informal meeting via video-conference on the impact of COVID-19 on food supply chain that took place on Wednesday 25 March, Europatat, together with EUPPA (European Potato Processors’ Association) and ESA (European Snack Association), sent a letter to Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, requesting for his support for the potato sector. Please find the letter attached here below.

During the video-conference meeting of agriculture ministers on Wednesday 25, Dutch Minister Carola Schouten requested the inclusion of “all agricultural raw materials, feed & food grain in the EU green corridor priority transport agreement.”  She said subsectors such as potatoes for processing, duck, dairy and the flower sectors had been hit the hardest in the Netherlands, making a case to “apply possible measures under the CMO Regulation to the horticulture sector.” Belgium is facing a similar fate, with Minister Hilde Crevits underlining that “swift reaction for the horticulture sector & potatoes” was required, pledging to provide the Commission with data on the country’s “most affected sectors.” Schouten said the pandemic should be considered as force majeure asking for “maximum flexibility to derogate from requirements under current EU rules, such as on the-spot checks that cannot be met.”

Following the meeting, the Commission will evaluate the problems identified in the supply chain and propose appropriate action in the coming days. In this sense, Europatat has been contacted by the fruit & vegetables and the Governance of the agri-food markets units of DG AGRICULTURE to obtain information from the sector. The contact is now established, so we ask members to keep us informed on the problems they are facing and possible requests that can be transferred to DG Agriculture to alleviate the situation.

In the meantime, the Europatat Secretariat will keep monitoring the situation and informing its members via targeted emails.

 

Related document

Coronavirus’ impact on DG AGRI deadlines
Agricultural Policy

Publication of Farm to Fork delayed: According to the latest information from the European Commission, the publication of the Farm to Fork Strategy has been pushed back until 29 April (rather than March 25). In addition, the EPP group in the European Parliament is requesting that the delay in publication be further extended until at least after the summer. The Farm to Fork Strategy has been tabled as a priority item on the College of Commissioners agenda for the upcoming months (25 March 2020 - 24 June 2020). The Strategy will be discussed in the meeting on the 29 April along with the EU Biodiversity Strategy.

CAP direct payments deadlines extended: The Commission will allow Member States to extend the deadline for applications for direct payments and certain rural development payments by one month, in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The new deadline for farmers to submit their CAP applications will be 15 June, instead of 15 May. The announcement follows a request from the Italian authorities. All national capitals can now take advantage of the rule change, but it is up to them whether they do so. DG AGRI officials are currently preparing legal steps to allow a derogation.

Promotion proposals’ deadline extended: The submission deadline of the calls for proposals on promotion programmes concerning agricultural products has been postponed to 3 June 2020. A call corrigendum will be published in the EU Official Journal in the coming days. You can follow the call updates and consult the new call timetable here. The frequently asked questions (FAQ) section was updated with a series of FAQ related to the impact of Covid-19 as well as Brexit on implementation of on-going promotional programmes.

 

Covid 19: flexibility for Member States to carry out official controls
Plant Health Policy

The Commission has published a measure which allows Member States to carry out official controls on the agri-food chain on a more flexible basis, in order to tackle the specific challenges of the situation due to COVID-19. The measure helps to prevent the spread of the disease through movements of control staff and to facilitate the movement of animals, plants, food and feed into and within the EU, in spite of the current circumstances. At the same time, the measure does not modify substantial rules of EU law regulating public and animal health, food and feed safety and animal welfare.

Veterinary and phytosanitary controls on animals, plants, food and feed may exceptionally be carried out using specifically designated persons (e.g. where staff of competent authorities cannot reach the place where the control should be carried out, due to movement restrictions aimed at preventing the spread of the Corona virus).Specifically designated laboratories can exceptionally be used where normally used official laboratories are not available. For border checks, electronically submitted documents may exceptionally be accepted for completing checks if the person responsible commits to provide the original as soon as possible. Physical meetings with operators may be replaced by contacts using available means of communication.

The measure is initially limited to two months and will be reviewed in the light of experience with its application. Member States that wish to use the measure have to inform the Commission and the other Member States.

 

Euroblight’s 2019 late blight monitoring report
Plant Health Policy

EuroBlight, an European network of scientists devoted to examining the ongoing evolution of the potato late blight pathogen, has recently published a report on its 2019 results, where it draws conclusions after examining approximately 1800 samples from 27 countries. Some of the key findings of the report are the following:

 Three emerging clones of P. infestans (37_A2, 36_A2 and 41_A2) increased their combined frequency from 10% in 2016 to 40% of the population in 2019.

Regional differences exists in the frequency of the emerging clones e.g. the frequency of clone 37_A2 has declined to 10% or less between 2018 and 2019 in the Netherlands and Britain, but remains 25% in Belgium and France.      

The weather in 2019, was very dry and unfavourable for late blight development in some regions but very conducive for blight in other regions like Denmark and Northern Britain.

 

ePhyto Hub
Plant Health Policy

At the November 2019 ePhyto Steering Group (eSG) meeting, the leaders of the ePhyto Solution agreed to start building a “channel” for interface between ePhyto and other digital platforms. The initial focus is on interoperability with government systems such as EU TRACES but industry platforms will eventually be a focus, perhaps as early as Q2/Q3 2020. Although still in the planning stages, indications about the channel are as follows:

  • The aim is to build a generic “Channel” component that will be used for interface with other certification systems.
  • The “use cases” being examined for the Channel component are:
  1. Governments: A single connection between the HUB and certain government/international organisation systems for more efficient exchange of phytosanitary certificates and better management of document distribution. Examples include common exchange platforms such as single window systems, EU TRACES, and regional approaches implemented in Asia and Russia.
  2. Industry: Ability for industry to receive relevant phytosanitary certificates. The Channel when used in this way would be strictly subject to the approval of NPPOs, who would have the ability to allow or disallow distribution.

The Industry Advisory Group (IAG) is now looking for volunteers to evaluate and respond to the proposed “channel” between ePhyto and other digital platforms:

  1. Evaluate the scope of the channel component and how it might relate to the trade of plant products
  2. Identify the most important “unknowns” for the plant product trade and help draft a set of questions to IPPC
  3. Decide on how the IAG will assist with eventual testing of the channel and its interoperability with grain trade platforms

On 28 April there will be a teleconference to which Europatat will participate. The agenda includes the following points:

  • an overview of NPPO ePhyto adoption
  • a report on the “Channel”, what it is, what it isn’t, lessons learnt from EU TRACES use case so far
  • a report on the ePhyto business plan/cost modelling and whether industry expertise is needed on this

In order to prepare for the teleconference, information to assess the building of the “channel” component with industry digital platforms, is needed. The information available so is attached and below:

Background – Industry channel component of the ePhyto Solution:

  • The industry channel still needs “more work” compared to the channel that is being built for government platforms such as EU TRACES
  • The plan is that once the connection document is complete and commercial entities begin connecting their systems, then the NPPOs will have to modify their systems.
  • NPPOs will have to modify PCIT so that when exporters apply for phytosanitary certificates for example in the US, an option will be given to send certificates to the “commercial entities”.
  • Exporters will be able to send to one or multiple commercial entities, so it will be up to the exporters to choose the additional recipients. 
  • So for instance, a list may be given by the exporter of “Industry digital platform X” and “Shipping Line 1” and the exporter would be able to send the data to both those commercial systems in addition to it automatically going to the foreign NPPO.
  • Once it’s in place, the ePhyto should be able to be sent to the commercial systems even if the particular country is not ready for exchange. 
  • It’s still unclear how long it will take all the countries to implement that change, but it’s already on the list for development in the US.

Members having comments on this are welcome to contact the secretariat.

 

Related document

EPPO Reporting Service
Plant Health Policy

The EPPO Reporting Service is a monthly information report on events of phytosanitary concern. It focuses on new geographical records, new host plants, new pests (including invasive alien plants), pests to be added to the EPPO Alert List, detection and identification methods etc.

The report number 3 is now available. The EPPO Global Database (GD) is available here.

 

Montenegro - Final report on plant health controls’ audit in the potato sector
Plant Health Policy

The report describes the outcome of an audit carried out in Montenegro from 5 to 13 November 2019 as part of the published Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety audit programme. The main objective of the audit was to evaluate the system of official plant health controls related to potato production and certification of potatoes for export to the European Union (EU), according to the requirements of Council Directive 2000/29/EC. The audit particularly focused on the surveillance and controls for Clavibacter michiganensis spp. sepedonicus (causing potato ring rot), Ralstonia solanacearum (causing potato brown rot), potato cyst nematodes (Globodera spp.) and Synchytrium endobioticum (causing potato wart disease). The main findings of the report are:

  •  The overall situation of the main potato harmful organisms in Montenegro is positive. Long crop rotation schemes and minimal irrigation are applied in the professional seed and ware potato crops whilst the use of certified seed for the production of ware potatoes is subsidised.
  • The system of official controls in the potato sector is comparable to that applied in the EU. Seed potato plots are subject to an official surveillance programme which includes soil sampling prior to planting, visual surveys of the growing crop and sampling of tubers mainly carried out prior to harvest for laboratory analysis.
  • There were significant weaknesses in quality control procedures, insufficient facilities for storage of samples and inadequate quarantine facilities. The shortcomings affect the reliability of results.
  • Available data indicate that so far there has been no incidence of ring rot and brown rot in Montenegro. However, the surveillance methods applied to confirm this are not fully in line with the EU requirements. Sampling is not representative as samples of potato tubers are mainly taken from the fields of large scale registered producers of certified seed and ware potatoes.
  • A significant proportion of potato growing areas are operated by small-scale non-registered producers whilst potatoes destined for household consumption or the domestic local markets are not or only occasionally surveyed.
  • Montenegro cannot be regarded as free from both potato bacteria as there are problems in the sampling approach and in the number of tuber samples analysed.

The report also includes recommendations to address the shortcomings.The response of the competent authorities of Montenegro to these recommendations is available here.

 

Other health and Food audits and analysis
Plant Health Policy

The European Commission has published the following audit reports:

 

Active substances
Food Safety

The European Commission has published the following Regulation:

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/421 as regards the extension of the approval periods of the active substances abamectin, Bacillus subtilis (Cohn 1872) strain QST 713, Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. Aizawai strains ABTS-1857 and GC-91, Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. Israeliensis (serotype H-14) strain AM65-52, Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. Kurstaki strains ABTS 351, PB 54, SA 11, SA12 and EG 2348, Beauveria bassiana strains ATCC 74040 and GHA, clodinafop, clopyralid, Cydia pomonella Granulovirus (CpGV), cyprodinil, dichlorprop-P, fenpyroximate, fosetyl, Lecanicillium muscarium (formerly ‘Verticillium lecanii’) strain Ve6, mepanipyrim, Metarhizium anisopliae (var. anisopliae) strain BIPESCO 5/F52, metconazole, metrafenone, Phlebiopsis gigantea strains FOC PG 410.3, VRA 1835 and VRA 1984, pirimicarb, Pseudomonas chlororaphis strain MA342, pyrimethanil, Pythium oligandrum M1, rimsulfuron, spinosad, Streptomyces K61 (formerly ‘S. griseoviridis’), Trichoderma asperellum (formerly ‘T. harzianum’) strains ICC012, T25 and TV1, Trichoderma atroviride (formerly ‘T. harzianum’) strains IMI 206040 and T11, Trichoderma gamsii (formerly ‘T. viride’) strain ICC080, Trichoderma harzianum strains T-22 and ITEM 908, triclopyr, trinexapac, triticonazole and ziram.

 

EU Pesticide Renewal Monitor
Food Safety

The most recent edition of the Quarterly ‘EU Pesticide Renewal Monitor’ sponsored by CropLife International (CLI) and prepared by BryantChristie Inc is now available, in both English and Spanish, (as well as previous versions) online.

Please note that:

  • This report has been created to support governments, farmers and the agri-food value chain to better understand which active substances are currently undergoing the pesticide renewal process in the EU
  • When active substance authorisations are changed or not renewed, this often results in the associated MRLs being either lowered, or revoked and set to the default of 0.01mg/kg
  • A Q&A document is included at the end of the Monitor document. Various links to further information are included in the report itself, and the Q&A
  • It remains the case that compound specific questions should be addressed directly to the Company/ Companies holding the registration

 

EFSA Highlights
Food Safety

Bees and pesticides - third consultation on guidance review: EFSA is carrying out a third stakeholder consultation as part of its review of the guidance on risk assessment of pesticides and bees. EFSA’s dedicated stakeholder consultation group and Member State pesticide network have been asked for feedback on the proposed approach for revising tier 1 risk assessment schemes, with a focus on crop attractiveness and risk assessment methodologies. Stakeholders and Member State experts have already provided comments on the current guidance, which was published in 2013, and on the protocol that EFSA will use to collect and evaluate data on bee mortality. EFSA will continue to consult stakeholders and Member State experts throughout the process. A full public consultation and workshop will take place when the guidance document has been drafted.

International Year of Plant Health - new EFSA’s website:  To mark the International Year of Plant Health, EFSA has launched a special website highlighting the work it is doing with its partners to combat plant pests and protect Europe’s cultivated and wild plants. The website will be updated throughout the year with news and information on activities aimed at raising awareness about plant health in Europe and beyond.

Chemical hazards data and modelling boost: EFSA has updated its OpenFoodTox database which now includes toxicity data on almost 5,000 chemicals drawn from over 2,000 scientific evaluations carried out by EFSA since 2002. OpenFoodTox was launched in 2017 to provide a single point of access for summary data on substances assessed by EFSA that previously had been available only separately in thousands of scientific publications. It describes for each substance the food/feed areas, such as additives, pesticides, contaminants, and the affected populations, such as humans, farm animals and wild animals. This last update adds over 150 substances, several of them included for multiple food/feed areas and populations, from an additional 200 scientific assessments.

Evaluations of active substances: According to Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005, EFSA is required to review the existing MRLs for the following active substances (for more information on the process, please consult the document “Overview of the MRL review progress under Article 12 of Regulation (EC) No 396/2005”):

1,4-Dimethylnaphthalene: In view of this MRL review, EFSA is now initiating the new (future) process for this active substance. All authorisation holders (including non-EU authorisation holders) are advised to liaise with the rapporteur Member State The Netherlands (arie.ton@ctgb.nl; marloes.schepens@ctgb.nl) in case they want to support the EU MRL review of this active substance as this is the only opportunity for providing this information. Current MRL for potatoes is 15 mg/kg.

Valifenalate: In view of this MRL review, EFSA is now initiating the new (future) process for this active substance. All authorisation holders (including non-EU authorisation holders) are advised to liaise with the rapporteur Member State Hungary (prisztokar@nebih.gov.hu; grifft@nebih.gov.hu) in case they want to support the EU MRL review of this active substance as this is the only opportunity for providing this information. Current MRL for potatoes is 0.01 mg/kg (Indicates lower limit of analytical determination).

Consultations:

Publications:

 

Brexit highlights
Market Access

EU-UK discussions: On 18 March 2020, negotiators of the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) exchanged draft texts containing their proposals for the envisaged future EU-UK Agreement on the New Partnership. While the EU has published its proposal for draft text of the agreement, the UK has only confidentially shared its text proposal with the EU (a written statement by the UK from the first round of negotiations is available here). The exchange of the draft agreements followed the first round of negotiations that was held in Brussels from 2 to 5 March 2020.

The next round of negotiations, which had been scheduled to take place from 18 to 20 March 2020, was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this Monday 30 March the joint Brexit committee consisting of EU and U.K. representatives had its first teleconference. According to a statement by European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič (who chairs the committee together with the U.K.’s Michael Gove), there was a “constructive and productive atmosphere”.

Advisory Group - Food Chain and Animal and Plant Health - Working Group Meeting: On 13 March, Europatat participated in a videoconference meeting that the Commission organised with stakeholders. During the meeting, DG SANTE confirmed that the UK decision not to check EU imports for SPS issues, only applied in the case of a no deal situation. It is expected that the UK will implement the EU legislation in relation to third countries, so a phytosanitary certificate will be needed. DG SANTE also explained in detail the practical implications of the EU-UK Protocol on Northern Ireland . Please see the presentation here.

 

The implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on trade
Trade Policy

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 epidemic a pandemic. On 17 March 2020, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced further EU actions in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Since the pandemic reached Europe, the EU has adopted a number of trade-related measures, including the issuance of guidelines for national border management, as well as export authorisation measures.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, EU Member States endorsed the Guidelines for border management measures, in order to ensure the smooth passage of goods, particularly food, and medical and health supplies across their borders.

The impact of the increasing number of trade-related measures as part of Government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic are poised to significantly disrupt the global trading system, supply chains and trade flows. A shortage of certain products could lead to higher prices and endanger food security in certain countries.

The Covid-19 pandemic will likely take months to overcome and the impact on trade will be significant and lasting. The situation is changing dynamically and rapidly, but businesses should remain up to date on the measures in force.

 

CELCAA highlights impact of COVID-19 on trade
Trade Policy

On 27 March, CELCAA (the European Liaison Committee for Agricultural and Agri-Food Trade, of which Europatat is member) send a joint letter to Commission services asking for all necessary means to be adopted to implement the guidelines of 19 and 23 March (green line implementation and border management measures), in response to the coronavirus crisis. The letter, in attachment, urges the Commission to continue efforts to ensure the guidelines are effectively implemented by Member States.

 

Related document

Export certifications during coronavirus’ crisis
Trade Policy

The European Commission has sent two letters to the EU’s trading partners related to export certification. Commission stressed that electronic export certificates and scanned copies would be accepted for imports into the EU, waiving the requirement to present original paper certificates as a temporary working solution in the context of Covid-19. The letter continues that EU exporters have likewise experienced difficulties in presenting original paper certificates issued by EU competent authorities – due to restrictions applied to airplane transport.

Commission is asking for reciprocal measures to ensure that consignment originating in the EU will be accepted on the basis of scanned copies of original paper certificates whenever it is not possible to present the original paper certificate and provided that the original form follows at a later stage.

Please find attached here below both letters.

 

Related document

WTO contingency appeal interim arrangement for trade disputes
Trade Policy

On 27 March, the EU and 15 other members of the WTO decided on an arrangement that will allow them to bring appeals and solve trade disputes despite the current paralysis of the WTO Appellate Body. The Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement mirrors the usual WTO appeal rules and can be used between any members of the Organisation willing to join, as long as the WTO Appellate Body is not fully functional. The European Commission expects the Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement to be officially notified to the WTO in the coming weeks, once the respective WTO Members complete their internal procedures, after which it will become operational.

 

Trade consultations
Trade Policy

New Generalised Scheme of Preferences for developing countries: The European Commission has opened a public consultation on their inception impact assessment for a new Generalised Scheme of Preferences Regulation granting trade advantages to developing countries. As a reminder, the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences grants unilateral tariff preferences to developing countries as a means of supporting their economic and social development. This preferential tariff scheme allows developing countries to pay fewer or no duties on exports to the EU. The Regulation governing the scheme expires on 31 December 2023. This initiative launches the preparatory work needed to allow the next Commission to decide on the future of the scheme. The consultation will be open until 3 June.

Business Survey - EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA): The EU is carrying out a survey to collect feedback on the impact of the EU-Japan EPA on EU businesses and to gather information on any market access challenges that EU companies face when entering the Japanese market. The EU will use the results of this survey to improve the business climate for EU companies operating in Japan. Kindly note that the deadline for answering the survey is 30 April 2020.

Roadmap consultation - Trade agreements with Georgia and Moldova: The European Commission will carry an evaluation of the costs and benefits of the EU’s “Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreements” with Georgia and Moldova, which are part of the Association Agreement each country has with the EU.  The study will assess the impact these trade agreements have had on trade and the economy, society at large, workers, human rights and the environment in each country. It will also look at the impact on small businesses and consumers. In relation with this evaluation, the Commission is seeking the stakeholder’s feedback on the roadmap for this evaluation. The consultation is open until 2 April 2020.

EU-China Customs Agreement: The European Commission is currently conducting an impact assessment on the EU-China Customs Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement, which is in force since April 2005. The public consultation targets Member States custom authorities, GACC and business stakeholders and in particular looks for feedback on how the agreement works with regard to effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value related to trade facilitation and security in the supply chain.

 

Report - Impact of the CAP on habitats, landscapes and biodiversity
Sustainability

The European Commission has published the final report of the external evaluation on the impact of the CAP on habitats, landscapes, biodiversity. According to the report, CAP implementation choices at Member State level have primarily been driven by socio-economic, financial and administrative factors, with biodiversity and other environmental objectives often being a “secondary concern”. In broad terms, countries have not made sufficient use of the available CAP instruments and measures to protect semi-natural features, authors say, such as grassland, or ensured that all semi-natural habitats that have the potential to be farmed are eligible for support. A “significant limitation” on the study was the “scarcity of evidence of the effects of the CAP instruments and measures on farming and forest systems and practices and their resulting effects on habitats and landscapes and impacts on biodiversity, especially relating to the 2014-2020 period,” they outline. The report concludes that the presence of the EU’s farm policy has raised countries’ ambition towards addressing biodiversity objectives as well as the level of funding, although “more could be done by Member States to ensure that their biodiversity priorities are reflected in their CAP decisions”.

 

Free movement of workers during COVID-19 outbreak
Other

The European Commission made a Communication this week concerning the exercise of the free movement of workers during COVID-19 outbreak. The guidelines identify a range of workers that exercise critical occupations, and for which continued free movement in the EU is deemed essential. The list provided in these guidelines is not exhaustive. In particular:

  • Member States should allow workers to enter the territory of the host Member State and have unhindered access to their place of work if they exercise in particular one of the following occupations: Food manufacturing and processing and related trades and maintenance workers; Food and related products machine operators (includes food production operator);
  • The Commission urges Member States to establish specific burden-free and fast procedures for border crossings with a regular flow of frontier and posted workers, to ensure a smooth passage for them. This may be done for instance and where appropriate, by means of dedicated lanes at the border;
  • As regards seasonal workers, particularly in the agricultural sector, Member States are asked to exchange information on their different needs at technical level and to establish specific procedures to ensure a smooth passage for such workers, in order to respond to labour shortages as a result of the crisis. Seasonal workers in agriculture perform in certain circumstances critical harvesting, planting and tending functions. In such a situation, Member States should treat those persons as critical workers and communicate to the employers the necessity to provide for adequate health and safety protection

 

New EU policy objectives for Eastern partnership after 2020
Other

On 18 March, the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy put forward a proposal for the long-term policy objectives of the Eastern Partnership beyond 2020. According to the Commission, these objectives aim at “increasing trade, strengthening connectivity and deepening economic integration with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, strengthening democratic institutions, the rule of law, environmental and climate resilience, supporting the digital transformation, and promoting fair and inclusive societies”. The Commission and the European External Action Service expect the Member States and partner countries to endorse the proposal in view of the Eastern Partnership Summit in June 2020, which will give a mandate to develop a new set of tangible deliverables building on the current 20 Deliverables for 2020.

 

  
 

This Circular contains information for the personal use of Europatat members only, and must not be further disseminated to non-members. Europatat members are kindly invited to inform the Secretariat about any specific country or industry developments which are appropriate for circulation in this Circular. For more information on the contents of this Circular, contact the Association’s Secretariat.

EUROPEAN UNION OF THE POTATO TRADE A.I.S.B.L.

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