On Friday 12 June, Coreper, the Council’s main preparatory body, did not reach the qualified majority required to approve the compromise proposal put forward by the Cypriot Presidency within the framework of the Omnibus Regulation on food safety and plant health. Consequently, the opening of interinstitutional negotiations, known as trilogues, with the European Parliament was not authorised.
According to the information available, Spain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Romania and Slovenia voted against the proposal, while Austria, Bulgaria and Lithuania abstained.
For FEPEX, the compromise proposal presented by the Cypriot Presidency is even more restrictive than the European Commission’s initial proposal, which is why it has positively assessed the fact that it was not approved on 12 June.
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The text also failed to include any of the main simplification measures requested by the European production sector, such as speeding up authorisation procedures, introducing automatic zonal authorisations, ensuring effective mutual recognition between Member States, or harmonising grace periods.
In the coming weeks, the Presidency will try to bring Member States closer together through new meetings and possible revised compromise texts. Only once Coreper and the Council approve a negotiating mandate will the trilogues with Parliament be able to begin and the Regulation move towards final adoption, for which there is currently no estimated date.
