However progress has been extremely slow and most of the contentious issues have not been discussed yet. The European Council, European Parliament and European Commission all have very different positions so it’s quite likely that we will not see an agreement on this and things will overrun into Slovakia’s presidency of the European Council, which starts in July. The latest information to come out of the triologue negotiations is that discussions to date, have skirted round the more contentious issues and mainly focussed on issues such as the scope of the regulations.
To make things even more complicated, seeing as this negotiation process has been going on for several years, there’s also the possibility that it could even abandoned entirely if they can’t reach an agreement, although given the effort that’s been expended already, it’s probably unlikely.
The current negotiations are not very transparent, so it’s hard to find out what’s been said and any direction of travel. For the UK organic sector, this uncertainty around the EU organic regulations is a big concern as it makes it very hard to plan and invest in the future. Likewise, it’s also going to put people off who are considering entering the sector – at a time when demand is growing. Needless to say, the NFU have made our concerns clear to representatives from all three EU institutions about the impact of this uncertainty and are continuing to lobby on areas of concern.
You can find an overview of the proposals and our concerns, here.