PRESS RELEASE – EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Commission approves new geographical indication ‘Bursa Siyah Inciri / Bursa Siyahi’ from Trkiye
The Commission has approved the addition of ‘Bursa Siyah Inciri / Bursa Siyahi’ from Trkiye in the register of Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).
Bursa Siyah Inciri / Bursa Siyahi’ is a fig of the ‘Drdane’ variety which is a local variety of Bursa province, in Trkiye. The region is characterized by patches of plains with mountainous terrain, which provide the appropriate conditions to grow excellent figs. The soil characteristics of the geographical area enable the growth of strong-rooted fig trees, allowing the trees better access to nutrients. Therefore, figs grown in the area become larger and sweeter.
‘Bursa Siyah Inciri / Bursa Siyahi’ figs possess unique features. They are renowned in Turkey and many other parts of the world for their size (larger than the average fig with a width of between 55 and 65 mm), a dark purple, almost black colour, and for their sweetness.
This new denomination will be adde
d to the list of 3,626 agricultural products already protected. The list of all protected geographical indications can be found in the eAmbrosia database. More information is available online at Quality Schemes and on our GIView portal.
(For more information: Olof Gill – Tel.: +32 2 296 59 66; Thérèse Lerebours – Tel.: +32 2 296 33 03)
Vice-President Jourová participates in the Council of Europe’s conference on accountability for international crimes committed in Ukraine
Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourová, will travel to Vilnius tomorrow to participate in a conference organised by the Lithuanian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, titled ‘Towards Accountability for International Crimes Committed in Ukraine’.
This conference is an opportunity for participants to discuss international crime prosecution and enforcement of judgments, as well as issues such as the collection and sharing of evidence, trials in absentia, and fair trial guarantees. Special atte
ntion will be devoted to the legal aspects concerning the establishment and operation of a Special Tribunal for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. In this regard, the Commission has also continued its discussions with its Member States and international partners to enable the prosecution of the crime of aggression to hold the highest political and military leadership of Russia accountable.
In addition to delivering opening remarks which will be publicly streamed, Vice-President Jourová will briefly intervene in the two sessions of the conference: the first will be titled ‘Finding Equilibrium in International Crime Prosecution and Judgment Enforcement: Evidence Collection, Sharing, and Trials in Absentia’; and the second ‘Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine and role of the Council of Europe’.
More information about the conference is available here. More information about the EU’s work to hold Russia accountable for the crimes committed in Ukraine is available here.
(For more i
nformation: Jördis Ferroli – Tel.: +32 2 299 27 29; Cristina Torres Castillo – Tel.: + 32 2 299 06 79)
EU Award for Gender Equality Champions: call for applications opens on 4 September
The call for applications to the Gender Equality Champions opens today. Interested organisations can apply online via the Funding and Tenders Portal until 16 October 2024 at 17:00 CET.
This prize awards outstanding achievements reached through the implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEP) put in place by universities, higher education institutions, and other research performing organisations (public or private), established in an EU Member State or a Third Country associated to Horizon Europe.
There are 3 award categories:
Sustainable Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that can demonstrate a significant and sustained record of activity and a high level of achievement through the implementation of their GEP.
Newcomer Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have recently finalised the implementation of thei
r first GEP and can demonstrate the most progress achieved through its implementation.
Inclusive Gender Equality Champions: Organisations that have developed the most innovative inclusive GEP – i.e. a GEP addressing intersections between gender and at least two other social categories, such as racial or ethnic origin, social origin, sexual orientation and gender identity (LGBTIQ) or disability – and can demonstrate concrete results obtained through its implementation.
The results will be officially announced during an award ceremony to be held in 2025. Each winner will receive a trophy and a pound 100 000 prize.
Applicants can only apply to one of the three categories and winners from past editions cannot re-apply to another category.
Admissibility, eligibility, and award criteria are detailed in the Rules of Contest, to be read carefully by all applicants before submitting their application.
Background
Since 2022, the European Commission recognises institutions with the most impactful GEPs by awarding
them with a Gender Equality Champion prize.
Designed by the European Commission (DG Research and Innovation), the prize is managed by the European Research Executive Agency and its winners are selected by an independent expert jury for each prize category.
The EU Award for Gender Equality Champions aims to:
complement and boost the requirement for higher education and research organisations applying to Horizon Europe to have in place a GEPas an eligibility criterion
be an incentive to advance inclusive gender equality plans and policies in the framework of the new European Research Area (ERA) policy agenda
act as an enabler for the transformation agenda for universities set in the new ERA, and in line with the new European Strategy for Universities
This prize is also intended to create a community of champions inspiring other academic and research organisations to become gender equality champions themselves, and to raise public awareness of the importance of addressing gender equality in academic and re
search organisations through institutional change.
More information
EU Award for Gender Equality Champions
Gender equality in research and innovation
Horizon Europe, gender equality
Press contact:
EC Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation
Commission endorses preliminary assessment of Greece’s fourth payment request for pound 998.6 million in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility
Today, the Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Greece’s fourth payment request for pound 998.6 million (net of pre-financing) in grants, following the disbursement of Greece’s fourth payment request of loans on 23 July 2024, under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
Following its assessment of the payment request submitted on 6 June 2024, the Commission has preliminarily concluded that Greece has satisfactorily completed the 16 milestones and four targets, set out in the Annex of the Council Implementing Decision for the fourth instalment.
E
ight reforms and 12 investments will drive positive change for citizens and businesses in Greece in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency, water management and reforestation, healthcare, education and vocational training, taxation, the justice system, and road and sports infrastructure.
Flagship measures in this payment request include:
Reforestation and fire prevention: The investment aims to restore degraded forests in Greece through reforestation and fire prevention measures, which will improve forest ecosystems and help prevent forest fires, such as those which have so badly affected Greece this summer. Fire prevention measures will include forest and woodland clearings, the maintenance of the forest road network, as well as cleaning and pruning works and planting trees. Under this payment request, Greece awarded contracts for the upgrade of 37,500 ha of degraded forest ecosystems. This is the first part of an overall fire-prevention investment aiming at upgrading a total of 105,000 ha of
degraded forest ecosystems (the so-called ‘Anti-NERO programme’), in addition to other reforestation, anti-erosion and antiflood actions.
Ensuring energy security and making the Greek electricity system fit for more renewables: These investments support the electricity interconnection of the Cyclades Islands to mainland Greece, and the installation of energy storage systems, boosting energy security and the potential for electricity generation from renewables. The fourth payment request includes the award of contracts for the installation of electricity interconnectors and the upgrade of the network, in addition to a set of energy storage projects. These investments are the first steps in measures that will, when complete, see in operation energy storage projects for more than 1380 MW of capacity, and more than 350 km of submarine cables installed.
Improvement of the justice IT system: This reform aims at the digital transformation of the Greek justice system, which has until now relied extensively on paper
records as well as filings and publications of decisions. A set of actions will broaden and increase the IT capabilities of the Greek justice system, such as digitisation of documents and in-court proceedings, updated record keeping, and installation of interoperable IT systems. This will help improve efficiency and effectiveness and accelerate the administration of justice in Greece to avoid excessive length of legal proceedings. With this payment request, Greece took measures to upgrade the court record systems and the justice IT systems. The reform will be completed and fully operational with the further elements to be fulfilled for the last payment request.
Next steps
The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Greece’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Greece can take place following the EFC’s opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Com
mission.
Background
Greece’s recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan will be financed by pound 18.2 billion in grants and pound 17.7 billion in loans. The payment request preliminary endorsed today follows Greece’s third payment request for grants endorsed by the Commission on 28 November 2023, and paid out to Greece on 28 December 2023, and Greece’s fourth payment request for loans endorsed by the Commission on 14 June 2024, and paid out to Greece on 23 July 2024.
This payment request will bring the funds paid out to Greece under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to pound 18.2 billion (including pound 3.96 billion in pre-financing in August 2022 as well as pound 158 million pre-payment under REPowerEU on 25 January 2024), which correspond to 51% of all the funds in the Greek plan.
For more information
Commission’s preliminary assessment of Greece’s fourth payment request for grants
Commission’s preliminary assessment
Greece’s Recovery and Resil
ience plan
Plan overview, map of projects financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility in Greece, full plan and all other related documents
Country snapshot
Recovery and Resilience Facility
Recovery and Resilience Facility main page
Recovery and Resilience Facility project map
Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard
Recovery and Resilience Facility Regulation
EU as a borrower
Statement by President von der Leyen at the joint press conference with Professor Strohschneider on the outcome of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture
A very warm welcome back to the press room,
And also welcome back, Professor Strohschneider,
Good morning,
I am glad to see all of you here in this room. C’est la rentrée. In other words, it is also harvesting season. And today we harvest the results of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture in the European Union.
There is hardly a sector more important to our continent than agriculture. It is, as we all know, vital to our health. It is strategi
c to our economy and our self-sufficiency. But we know that our farmers are confronted with many and mounting challenges, from the very tough global competition to the devastating effects of climate change. As we know, Europe is the fastest-warming continent. We know and experience all the extreme weather events that are becoming increasingly frequent, whether it is heat waves and droughts or floods, hailstorms, heavy rain. But we also observe an increasing amount of depleted and polluted soils. And these soils are less fertile and less flood resistant, and they are diminished in their ability to hold both water but also carbon. We know that in some parts of Europe, water availability is already a severe problem. The farming community is amongst the first victims of these crises. But at the same time, the sector holds many solutions to mitigate or sometimes even reverse the effects. And we are not starting from scratch. As you know, we have done important progress towards more sustainability. That has been do
ne by all the sectors and actors in the sectors, but we all know that more ambitious steps have to be taken. And therefore, I am very happy that the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture in the European Union is presenting consensual – consensual, that is important – solutions. You will certainly speak a lot about the way forward. But we all know already today that we must do more – and we will do more – to protect our farmers and to make the agri-food system more resilient, more competitive but most importantly also more sustainable.
So dear Professor Strohschneider, let me thank you for your great work as Chairman of the Strategic Dialogue. I am very grateful for the work of the group as a whole. It brought together many different stakeholders from the sector. You had big producers and small farmers, young farmers. You had scientists and environmental groups, financial organisations but also consumer organisations and many others around the table. They all represent the extraordinary diversity of
the agri-food sector. And of course, they also represent the complexity of the agri-food value chain. I have had the pleasure to see that group at work on three different occasions during plenary sessions. And for me it was very interesting to see the way they work, the way they grew together and the dynamics that evolved within this group. And over the process how committed they all were as a group to find common solutions, and I think this in itself is already a big success. Because it shows that with the right structure in place, it is possible to move beyond a polarised debate and to create trust, much-needed trust. This is a very positive lesson to draw from your mandate, but of course the content is as important.
Perhaps to finalise, what is next? My team and I will of course carefully study these recommendations in the report. They will feed into a vision for agriculture and food. And I will present this roadmap within the first 100 days of the next mandate. There are already some key objectives outli
ned in my Political Guidelines. First, we need to ensure fair and sufficient incomes for our farmers. Because thanks to the European farmers, Europe has the best quality food in the world. So they must get the livelihood they deserve. Yes, we have the European Common Agricultural Policy – the CAP – that already provides EUR 300 billion - and this until 2027. In parallel, we must have a good look at the agri-food value chain, because we see that too often, farmers are the weakest link in this value chain. Some are forced to systematically sell their products below production costs, and that cannot be. Therefore, in March this year, the Commission put forward recommendations to improve farmers’ negotiating power. And I think we should, together, continue building a fairer system.
Second, very important, we must support an agriculture that works for and with nature. We know this can only be done with an efficient system of rewards and incentives. As I said, farmers are among the first to fundamentally feel the
effects of climate and environmental changes and crises. At the same time, unsustainable agricultural structures and practices themselves contribute and fuel the climate crisis. But on the other hand, the agriculture sector holds many solutions to mitigate and to adapt to climate crises. So sustainable agriculture is therefore an extremely important instrument - you have been working a lot on it. And services for a healthy nature have to be rewarded. Because only if farmers can live off their land will they invest in more sustainable practices. And only if we achieve our climate and environmental goals together will farmers be able to continue making a living. So we share the same goal: protecting nature but also creating sustainable prosperity for our farmers.
And finally, we must continue to cut red tape, especially for small and family farms. Earlier this year, we introduced measures to free them from controls and penalties linked to the CAP. So we want to continue down this path, together with our Memb
er States. And we must promote a competitive European food value chain. For this we must seize all the opportunities offered by the abundance of innovation in this field – from precision farming to drones to new breeding techniques. And not only in large-scale farms but also in cooperatives and in the many SMEs of the sector.
Dear Professor Strohschneider,
For all the areas that I mentioned, you will now present the concrete recommendations of the group. I just want to mention one that really caught my attention. It is that we should keep the spirit and the energy of the Strategic Dialogue as we go forward. I very much like this idea, to have kind of a board accompanying the transition and making sure at every step that this consensual spirit stays alive. Thank you very much. The floor is yours.
Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture delivers its final report to President von der Leyen
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen received today the final report of the Strategic Di
alogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, handed over by the group’s chair, Professor Peter Strohschneider. Entitled ‘A shared prospect for farming and food in Europe’, the report presents an assessment of challenges and opportunities, followed by a set of recommendations. These suggestions will guide the work of the European Commission when shaping its Vision for Agriculture and Food, to be delivered in the first 100 days of President von der Leyen’s second mandate.
The Commission welcomes the important work done by the 29 members of the Strategic Dialogue since its launch by President von der Leyen in January 2024, and the constructive engagement they have shown throughout the entire process, in order to finalise – and unanimously endorse – the final report. Today’s outcome shows that consensus can be built among key interests from across the whole agri-food chain, even in times of polarisation around the public debate on agri-food issues.
Maintaining this approach, by continuing to foster dialogue and mutu
al trust between different points of view can help to deliver lasting solutions for competitive, resilient, diverse and sustainable agri-food systems in the EU. The Commission will therefore closely assess the report’s recommendations to establish a new platform gathering actors from across the agri-food sector, civil society and the world of science to keep reflecting on strategies to make agri-food systems more sustainable and resilient.
The Dialogue’s report considers that food and agricultural production are an essential part of European society and security, and that the diversity of European food and farming is an important asset. There is consensus among members of the Strategic Dialogue that economic, environmental and social sustainability in the agri-food sector can reinforce each other, especially when supported by coherent policy measures. The role of markets, dietary habits and innovation to drive sustainability is also pointed out.
The recommendations detailed in the report are structured in f
ive pillars:
Working together for a sustainable, resilient and competitive future: this part addresses the need to adapt the CAP in the context of the ongoing transition towards more sustainable and competitive food systems, the importance of strengthening of farmers’ position in the food value chain, access to finance, and the role of trade and international standards.
Advancing towards sustainable agri-food systems: the recommendations under this heading dive into the support and promotion of sustainable farming practices, including for livestock farming, and advocate for increased awareness about animal welfare and empowerment of consumers to choose sustainable and balanced diets.
Promoting transformative resilience: in the face of growing environmental, climate, geopolitical and economic risks, the report outlines the need to strengthen risk management tools and crisis management as well as to better preserve and manage farmland, promote water-resilient agriculture, and develop innovative plant breedin
g approaches.
Building an attractive and diverse sector: the importance of generational renewal and gender equality as well as vibrant rural areas and agri-food systems is detailed in this section, including the need to protect workers.
Better access to and use of knowledge and innovation: the recommendations conclude that access to knowledge and skills must be facilitated, and that digitalisation is an opportunity.
The report produced by the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture is addressed to the European Commission, the European Parliament, Member States and stakeholders.
Background
Announced by President von der Leyen in her State of the Union address in September 2023 and launched in January 2024, the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture brought together 29 major stakeholders from the European agri-food sectors, civil society, rural communities and academia to reach a common understanding and vision for the future of EU’s farming and food systems.
The Dialogue’s mandate
was to reflect on four questions:
How can we give our farmers, and the rural communities they live in, a better perspective, including a fair standard of living?
How can we support agriculture within the boundaries of our planet and its ecosystem?
How can we make better use of the immense opportunities offered by knowledge and technological innovation?
How can we promote a bright and thriving future for Europe’s food system in a competitive world?
Following this structure, different working groups set up to take the work forward. From January to August 2024, seven plenary meetings were also organised for all members of the Strategic Dialogue, with President von der Leyen participating in three. In addition, the group’s chair, Professor Strohschneider, requested input from EU-wide organisations active all along the food supply chain. He also met with ministers of agriculture of Member States, the full College of EU Commissioners, Members of the European Parliament, and representatives of the European Econ
omic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions.
For More Information
A shared prospect for farming and food in Europe: final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture
Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture
List of participants in the Strategic Dialogue
Quote(s)
I warmly congratulate the members of the Strategic Dialogue for their important work. The outcome of this Strategic Dialogue shows that it’s possible to move beyond a polarised debate and create trust among very diverse stakeholders. The Commission will now take a careful look at their ideas. We all want a thriving food and farming sector across our continent, that rewards our farmers, citizens and precious natural heritage. With this report, we have a very solid foundation for the development of a new vision for food and farming in Europe. As we go forward we should keep the good spirit, energy and the relationships forged during the Strategic Dialogue.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Europe
an Commission
After seven months of intensive work, the members of the Strategic Dialogue agreed on a shared conceptual consensus for the future of farming and food in Europe, through a new culture of mutual understanding and communication. These joint perspectives, agreed by a diverse and representative group of stakeholders in this sector, form a holistic and societal approach to addressing the EU’s environmental, climate, economic and socio-political goals. It is my profound hope that the energy, ingenuity and collegiality of the Strategic Dialogue can be maintained for similar purposes in the future.
Professor Peter Strohschneider, Chairman of the Strategic Dialogue
Related topics
Agriculture and Rural Development
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Source: Cyprus News Agency