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The European Banking Authority("EBA") published aconsultation paperon draftregulatory technical standards (RTS) on the disclosure of theinvestment policy by investment firms under the Investment FirmsRegulation ((EU) 2019/2033) ("IFR")(EBA/CP/2021/15).

The Financial Conduct Authority("FCA") published apolicy statement(PS21/4) onextending its annual financial crime reporting obligation.

The European Commission published apublic consultationon instantpayments.

The Financial Stability Board ("FSB")published aspeechmade by Randal Quarles,FSB Chair, that sets out details of the FSB's areas of focusfor 2021.

European Securities and Markets Authority("ESMA") published an updated version ofitsQ&As(ESMA34-32-352) on theapplication of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive(EU/2011/61) ("AIFMD").

HM Treasury published astatementconcerning the firstmeeting of the Joint Committee established under the UK-USbilateral agreement on insurance and reinsurance prudentialmeasures.

ESMA published itsfinal report(dated 23 March2021) (ESMA74-362-1013) on reference data and transaction reportingobligations under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation(600/2014) ("MiFIR").

The FCA, Prudential Regulation Authority("PRA") and the Bank of England("BoE")publishedpolicy statements andsupervisory materials setting out their final rules and guidance onoperational resilience.

The PRA published apolicy statementon outsourcingand third party risk management (PS7/21).

The FCA publishedPrimary Market Bulletin No 33whichcovers DTR disclosures.

ESMA published afinal reportcontaining itstechnical advice to the European Commission on the application ofadministrative and criminal sanctions under the MiFID II Directive(EU/2014/65) ("MiFID II") and MiFIR(ESMA35-43-2430).

ESMA published an updated version of itsQ&Ason investor protectionand intermediaries (ESMA35-43-349) under MiFID II and MiFIR.

The FCA and the BoE published ajoint statementannouncing thatthey encourage liquidity providers in the sterling non-linearderivatives market to adopt new quoting conventions forinter-dealer trading based on SONIA instead of LIBOR from 11 May2021.

The FCA published afeedback statementon openfinance (FS21/7).

The PRA published apolicy statementon the 2021/22management expenses levy limit for the Financial ServicesCompensation Scheme (PS5/21).

The BoE published thefinancial policy summary andrecord of the meeting of its Financial PolicyCommittee on 11 March 2021.

ESMA published aconsultation paperon thelegislative review of the Regulation on money market funds(EU/2017/1131) ("MMF Regulation")(ESMA34-49-309).

The BoE and FCA published areporton liquidity managementin UK open-ended funds.

ESMA published afinal report(ESMA43-370-281) ontechnical advice submitted to the European Commission on proceduralrules for penalties imposed on benchmark administrators under theBenchmarks Regulation (EU/2016/1011)("BMR").

The European Supervisory Authorities("ESAs") (that is, the EBA, the EuropeanInsurance and Occupational Pensions Authority("EIOPA") and ESMA) published anopinionto the EuropeanCommission on the jurisdictional scope of the SecuritisationRegulation ((EU) 2017/2402).

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU)2021/527of 15 December 2020 amending CommissionDelegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 ( "MiFID IIDelegated Regulation") as regards the thresholds forweekly position reporting under MiFID II was published.

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU)2021/529of 18 December 2020 on liquidity thresholdsand trade percentiles used to determine SSTI applicable tonon-equity instruments under MiFIR was published.

HM Treasury published apress releaseannouncing thattechnical discussions on the text of the memorandum ofunderstanding on UK-EU regulatory co-operation in financialservices have concluded.

The Joint Committee of the ESAs published a set ofQ&Ason the SecuritisationRegulation, covering questions that fall outside the scope of anyone of the three ESAs.

HM Treasury published apress releaseannouncing thepublication of HM Treasury's remits and recommendations for theFCA and the PRA for the current Parliament.

TheMoney Laundering and Terrorist Financing(Amendment) (High-Risk Countries) Regulations 2021 (SI2021/392)were published, together with anexplanatory memorandum.

HM Treasury published adraft versionof the CapitalRequirements Regulation (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2021,together with adraft explanatorymemorandum.

The BoE published theminutesof the February 2021meeting of the working group on sterling risk-free referencerates.

The FCA published apress releaseannouncing thelaunch of a?campaign to encourage individuals to reportwrongdoing.

The PRA published apolicy statement(PS4/21) ondepositor protection identity verification.

HM Treasury updated itsadvisory notice on money laundering andterrorist financing controls in overseasjurisdictions.

ESMA published astatement(ESMA34-43-880)reporting on the results of the 2020 common supervisory action onthe supervision of UCITS managers' liquidity riskmanagement.

The FICC Markets Standards Board published a draftstandardon the use of TermSONIA reference rates.

ESMA published aconsultationpaper(ESMA74-362-1864) on simplification andharmonisation of trade repositories' fees.

The FCA published astatementon the use of itstemporary transitional power to modify the UK's derivativestrading obligation.

ESMA published anupdated statement(dated 9 March2021) (ESMA80-187-881) on the application of key provisions in theBMR in the light of Brexit.

The European Commission published aconsultation paperon instantpayments, together with itsstrategyfor the initiative oninstant payments in the EU.

The House of Commons Treasury Committee published theBoEwritten responseto thecommittee's inquiry into the future of financial services inthe UK after Brexit.

The FCA published astatementproposing to extendthe timetable for implementing changes relating to its consultationpaper on Handbook changes following its general insurance marketstudy (CP20/19).

The FCA haspublished Handbook Notice 86, whichsets out changes to the FCA Handbook made by the FCA board on 25March 2021.

The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary AffairsCommittee ("ECON") published adraft report(dated 18 March2021) (PE689.790v01-00) setting out amendments to the proposedDirective amending Directives 2006/43/EC, 2009/65/EC, 2009/138/EU,2011/61/EU, 2013/36/EU, 2014/65/EU, (EU) 2015/2366 and (EU)2016/2341 (2020/0268(COD)).

The Financial Markets Law Committee (FMLC) published itsresponseto HM Treasury'sconsultation paper on the UK regulatory approach to stablecoins anda call for evidence on cryptoassets used for investment and thebroader use of distributed ledger technology in financialmarkets.

The Single Resolution Board published acommunicationon its approach toliabilities governed by UK law without a contractual bail-inrecognition clause in the light of Brexit.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published, forconsultation,draft updated guidanceon therisk-based approach to virtual assets (also known as cryptoassets)and virtual asset service providers("VASPs").

The Financial Markets Law Committee and the European FinancialMarkets Lawyers Group published a jointletter(dated 19 March 2021) toKatharine Braddick, HM Treasury Director of General FinancialServices, on LIBOR transition.

The International Islamic Financial Market published awhite paperon IBOR transitionfor industry awareness and development.

The Council of the EU published apress releaseannouncing that ithas adopted conclusions relating to the European Commission'sRetail Payments Strategy.

The FCA published astatementannouncing furtherextension to a temporary COVID-19 measure applying supervisoryflexibility over 10% depreciation notifications and RTS 27reports.

The European Commission published the EU platform on sustainablefinance'sreport on transitionfinance.

The ESAs published a set ofjoint Q&Ason bilateralmargin requirements under EMIR (648/2012).

ECON published adraft reportdated 17 March 2021(PE689.801v01-00) setting out recommendations to the EuropeanCommission on the proposed Regulation on digital operationalresilience for the financial sector (2020/0266 (COD)). TheRegulation is sometimes referred to as the Digital OperationalResilience Act ("DORA").

The European Central Bank("ECB") published apaperon best practices appliedby financial market infrastructures in their business continuityplans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ESMA published astatement(ESMA70-154-2365)relating to its supervisory approach to position limits forcommodity derivatives under MiFID II.

The FCA published itsRegulation round-upfor March2021.

The International Regulatory Strategy Group published areporton promoting regulatorycoherence in financial services for pandemic recovery.

The FCA published aspeechby Senior Adviser to theFCA on the Public Sector Equality Duty, considering diversity,inclusion and the FCA's Public Sector Equality Duty.

The ECB published ablog postby Luis de Guindos,ECB Vice-President, summarising the preliminary results of theECB's first economy-wide climate stress test.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published apress releaseannouncing that,in February 2021, it launched a new project to study and mitigatethe unintended consequences resulting from the incorrectimplementation of its anti-money laundering and counter-terroristfinancing standards.

The PRA published apolicy statement(PS2/21)setting out its expectations and guidance relating to auditors'work on the matching adjustment under the UK Solvency IIregime.

The Working Group on Sterling Risk-Free Reference Ratespublished a revised version of its best practiceguidefor GBP loans.

The FCA published aspeechby the FCA ChiefExecutive, on why diversity and inclusion are regulatoryissues.

The PRA published apolicy statementand final ruleson holding company regulatory transaction fees (PS3/21).

The European Banking Authority("EBA") published aconsultationpaper(EBA/CP/2021/11) on proposed changes to theguidelines on the risk-based supervision of credit and financialinstitutions' compliance with anti-money laundering andcounter-terrorist financing obligations, produced under Article48(10) of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive (EU/2015/849)("MLD4").

The ESAs published ajoint consultation paper(JC2021 22) on draft regulatory technical standards regarding thecontent and presentation of sustainability disclosures underArticles 8(4), 9(6) and 11(5) of the Sustainable Finance DisclosureRegulation ((EU) 2019/2088)("SFDR"or "Disclosure Regulation").

The PRA published aspeechby BoE Deputy Governorfor Prudential Regulation and PRA CEO, in which he considers theways in which regulation of the UK insurance sector is set tochange and also comments on the UK government's Solvency IIregime review.

The European Commission published aspeechby Mairead McGuinness,European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability,and Capital Markets Union ("CMU"), inwhich she considers progress in relation to the CMU and the impactof Brexit on the EU, particularly in relation to clearing andderivatives.

The European Commission published for consultation a draftDelegated Regulation (Ares(2021)1890322) extending the transitionalperiod under Article 89(1) of EMIR (648/2012). The draftDelegated Regulation is accessible via a dedicatedwebpage.

The FCA published aspeechby Edwin SchoolingLatter, Director of Markets and Wholesale Policy, about regulationof the UK's wholesale financial markets.

The FCA updated its dedicatedwebpagerelating to its April2019 feedback statement on a duty of care and potential alternativeapproaches (FS19/2) to indicate it is aiming to consult on optionsfor change in May 2021.

ESMA published apress releaseannouncing it hasdecided not to renew its decision to require holders of net shortpositions in shares traded on an EU regulated market to notify therelevant national competent authority (NCA) if the positionreaches, exceeds or falls below 0.1% of the issued sharecapital.

The European Commission published aconsultation paperon supervisoryconvergence and the single rulebook.

The EBA published two consultation papers on draft regulatorytechnical standardson gross jump-to-defaultamounts (EBA/CP/2021/09) andon residual risk add-on under Fundamental Reviewof Trading Book (FRTB)(EBA/CP/2021/10).

The European Commission published acall for evidenceon thefeasibility assessment for a potential EU bank referral scheme forsmall and medium-sized enterprises.

Decision (EU) 2021/432of theECB, amending Decision (EU) 2017/1198 on the reporting of fundingplans of credit institutions by national competent authorities tothe ECB, was published (ECB/2021/7).

The FCA published alistof business interruptioninsurance policies capable of responding to the COVID-19 pandemicfollowing the test case.

The Council of the EU published an"I/A" itemnote(7014/21) from the Council's GeneralSecretariat to its Permanent Representatives Committee relating toconclusions on a Retail Payments Strategy for the EU.

ECON published adraft reportdated 9 March 2021(PE689.571v01-00) setting out recommendations to the EuropeanCommission on the proposal for a Regulation on a pilot regime formarket infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology("DLT") (2020/0267(COD)).

The EBA published adiscussionpaper(EBA/DP/2021/01) on a feasibility study of anintegrated reporting system under Article 430c of the CapitalRequirements Regulation (EU/575/2013)("CRR").

The EBA published aconsultationpaper(EBA/CP/2021/08) on draft revised guidelines onstress tests conducted by national deposit guarantee schemes underthe Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (2014/49/EU)("DGSD").

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU)2021/424amending the CRR with regard to thealternative standardised approach for market risk waspublished.

The European Commission published a consultation on DelegatedRegulation supplementing EMIR on FRANDT commercial terms forclearing services for OTC derivatives. The draft DelegatedRegulation and accompanying draft Annex are accessible via adedicatedwebpage.

The European Commission published aconsultationon a roadmap on anEU-wide instant payments scheme.

The Financial Services Bill 2019-21completedits committee stage in theHouse of Lords, following the fourth sitting of the committee forthe Bill.

The EBA published adiscussionpaper(EBA/DP/2021/01) on a feasibility study of anintegrated reporting system under Article 430c of the CRR.

The EBA published aconsultationpaper(EBA/CP/2021/07) on draft guidelines on acommon assessment methodology for granting authorisation as acredit institution under Article 8(5) of the CRD IV Directive(2013/36/EU).

ECON published adraft reportdated 25 February2021 (PE663.215v01-00) setting out recommendations to the EuropeanCommission on the proposed Regulation on markets in cryptoassetsand amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937("MiCA") (2020/0265(COD)).

Arevised draft versionof theRecognised Auction Platforms (Amendment and MiscellaneousProvisions) Regulations 2021 was published together with arevised draft explanatorymemorandum.

The FCA published apress releaseannouncing that ithas made available its annual transparency calculations for UKequity and equity-like financial instruments that will apply from 1April 2021.

The PRA and FCA published ajoint consultation paperonmargin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives, amendingthe binding technical standards in the UK onshored version ofCommission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/2251 (PRA CP6/21, FCACP21/7).

The National Crime Agency published updatedguidanceto anti-moneylaundering supervisors, including those overseen by the Office forProfessional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision, directed atimproving the quality of suspicious activity reports.

The European Commission published animpact inceptionassessment(Ares(2021)1700448-08/03/2021) (referredto as a roadmap) on a review of the EU rules on central securitiesdepositories under the Central Securities Depositories Regulation(909/2014) ("CSDR").

The FCA published aspeechby FCA Executive Directorof Enforcement and Market Oversight, on the FCA's recent workto tackle market abuse.

The FCA published aconsultation paperon itsproposals to regulate bidding for emissions allowances on the UKauction platform under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (CP21/6).The UK ETS replaced the UK's participation in the EU ETS from 1January 2021.

The FCA published its 31stquarterly consultationpaper(CP21/5).

IOSCO published apress releaseannouncing workstreams onliquidity risk management for collective investment schemes.

The FCA updated its website outlining its approach to reportingreferences to LIBOR inOTC derivatives contractsandsecurities financing transactions.

The FCA published astatementannouncing the datesthat panel bank submissions for all LIBOR settings will cease,after which representative LIBOR rates will no longer beavailable.

ISDA published astatementresponding to theFCA's announcement, of the same date, setting out the dates onwhich all LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided by anyadministrator or no longer be representative.

The ICE BenchmarkAdministration("IBA") issuedapress releaseannouncing thepublication of a feedback statement on its consultation onIBA's intention to cease publication of all tenors of LIBORsettings.

The EBA published afinal reporton draftimplementing technical standards ("ITS")on reporting and disclosure requirements for investment firms underthe IFR (EU/2019/2033)(EBA/ITS/2021/02). The annexes to theITS are available on the EBAwebsite.

Read more from the original source:
Regulation Round Up - Finance and Banking - European Union - Mondaq News Alerts

LONDON The United States is recovering faster from the economic shock caused by the coronavirus pandemic than countries in the European Union.

The sheer amount of fiscal stimulus in the United States has been a critical driver in ensuring that the largest economy in the world resurfaces quickly. But there are other reasons allowing the U.S. to return to pre-crisis ouput levels much faster than its EU counterparts.

Silvia Dall'Angelo, senior economist at Federated Hermes told CNBC in March, cited an "institutional problem" in the European Union as one of the main issues hindering its recovery. As such, she said, "there are signs that the U.S. will recover much faster than the EU."

Though European nations surprised financial markets in July of 2020, by coming together and approving an EU-wide fiscal stimulus plan that included borrowing 750 billion euros ($892 billion) from public markets, this money is not yet available to the 27 member states.

A series of legislative approvals are needed before the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, can actually tap the markets. It is hoped this can take place this summer, but Germany's constitutional court brought further uncertainty to the process last week by halting the approval of the program, which ultimately could delay disbursements further.

By contrast, U.S. President Joe Biden managed to get $1.9 trillion in fiscal stimulus approved after less than two months in office.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. is well placed not only return to but also to exceed its pre-pandemic growth rate this year.

But it's a different story in the euro zone, made up of the 19 countries that share the euro.

One of the biggest differences between the U.S. and the bloc is that the economic setback last year was much higher in the euro area. Whereas the U.S. economy contracted by 3.5%, the euro zone economy shrunk by almost twice as much.

Given how deep the shock was for them last year, euro nations will naturally struggle more to recover in 2021. Its gross domestic product (GDP) is seen expanding by 4.4% this year, while U.S. growth is expected to reach 6.4%.

Zsolt Darvas, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, highlighted to CNBC that the Covid vaccination progress was "much stronger" in the U.S. compared to Europe, and therefore the U.S. economy was likely to reopen fully sooner than those in Europe.

The latest vaccination data show that about 50% of the population in the United States has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Meanwhile, only about 20% of the population in the European Union have had their first shot, according to Our World in Data.

Many people in developed nations have managed to save more since the pandemic emerged compared to previous years. This is in part due to governments' stimulus measures, but also because consumer spending has been severely limited, with non-essential retail, leisure activities and travel off limits for months.

At the end of the third quarter of 2020, the average personal savings rate in the U.S. stood at 15.7%. This was lower than a peak of 25.8% at the height of the pandemic, but still far higher than the average savings rate prior to 2020.

Meanwhile, the household saving rate in the euro area came in at 17.3% by the end of September, according to the Eurostat. This level of savings was lower than a 2020 peak, but was also much higher compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Federated Hermes' Dall'Angelo said the U.S.' faster vaccine rollout will allow consumers to spend their additional cash sooner.

"The safe re-opening of the economy is therefore a precondition to unlock pent-up demand and a potential unwinding of precautionary savings. In this respect, the U.S. is in a much stronger position than the euro zone," she told CNBC.

Though it remain uncertain how people will choose to spend their additional savings if at all "in general, saving rates tend to be structurally higher in the euro zone than in the U.S., meaning that the scope for a consumption boom is more limited in the euro zone compared to the U.S.," Dall'Angelo added.

There has been a huge focus both in the U.S. and EU to avoid swathes of layoffs. This has led to wage subsidies, unemployment benefits and other support measures.

As a result, unemployment has been somewhat contained and, in both regions, the jobless rate stayed below its peak during the global financial crisis of 2008.

However, the number of unemployed people is expected to improve faster in the U.S. than in the euro zone, even though they experienced similar levels of joblessness last year. Unemployment is set to fall to 5.8% this year in the U.S., whereas it is seen rising slightly in the euro area to 8.7% from 7.9% in 2020.

Experts are concerned that the moment European governments lift their recent labour-market-friendly policies, many businesses could become insolvent and more workers will likely become unemployed.

Link:
4 charts show how the U.S. is on track for a faster economic recovery than Europe - CNBC

The European Union (EU) plans to revise their energy taxation rules by Summer 2021 to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

In a poll Verdict has conducted to analyse peoples opinion on the EUs plan to impose bloc-wide carbon footprint taxes by Summer 2021, 43% of the respondents supported the plan, while 40% were against it.

The remaining 17% of the respondents did not have an opinion regarding the plan.

The analysis is based on 253 responses received from the readers of Offshore Technology, a Verdict network site, between 04 December 2020 and 30 March 2021.

The EU countries are undertaking various measures to fight climate change and have agreed to impose a bloc-wide tax on non-recycled plastic waste. Few countries have also introduced national environmental taxes.

The EU plans to begin imposing fees for importing goods in the core sectors, including steel, cement, and electricity industries, which could be later extended to aluminium, fertiliser and chemical industries. The levies should be overhauled to appear as climate and environmental expenses, according to the head of EU climate policy.

Brussels intends to revamp its policies, including Europes carbon market, carbon standards for cars, and farming subsidies to meet its net-zero emission target, while the Netherlands plans to levy CO2 taxes on industries and increase taxes on flight tickets to narrow the price gap between plane and train tickets.

However, the road to modification in the EU taxation rules will not be smooth as it requires approval from all the 27 member countries. The fuel taxation policies are expected to face the most resistance as countries and companies will likely raise concerns that the carbon-footprint taxes will increase product prices thereby impacting consumers.

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Read more here:
Mixed response to EU's bloc-wide carbon footprint taxes by 2021 - Offshore Technology

"Any suggestion thatI, in any way, made any criticism ofthe European Union yesterday wouldbe completely incorrect," Mr Morrison told reporters this morning.

"I simplystated a fact - that 3.1 million ofthe contracted vaccines that we hadbeen relying upon in early Januarywhen we'd set out a series oftargets did not turn up inAustralia. That is just a simplefact."

The EU has denied responsibility for the shortfall, with the chief spokesman for the European Commission telling a press conference there had been no "new decision to block vaccine exports to Australia".

So far 920,334 doses have been administered, with Mr Morrison blaming "a supply problem" for Australia's inability to hit its vaccine targets set earlier this year.

At a press conference, Mr Morrison described a timeline which he claims "sets out the facts" of the issue.

In September last year, Australia contracted AstraZeneca for 3.8 million doses to be delivered in January and February from the offshore manufactured product.

In late January, the EU introduced strict export controls which were further expanded on March 24.

In late January, AstraZeneca provided updated advice that only 1.2 million of the 3.2 million offshore manufactured product could be delivered in February and March.

That was because a range of issues, Mr Morrison said, which included not just the vaccine shortage in Europe but also AstraZeneca's awareness of the increasing restrictions on export controls.

In February, AstraZeneca made an application was made for 500,000 doses to be released to Australia. Those 500,000 doses were being manufactured in Italy.

On February 20, AstraZeneca was advised by the European Commission to withdraw their application and submit a revised application for 250,000 doses, manufactured in Italy.

On March 3, the European Union denied export of those 250,000 doses to Australia.

Appearing on Today this morning, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg backed the prime minister's version of events.

"The Prime Minister was absolutely right. Those 3.1 million doses didn't arrive," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Today.

"We have a request for a million doses of AstraZeneca that were destined for Australia to go to Papua New Guinea in a humanitarian mission where there has been an outbreak," he said.

"We are waiting on the Europeans to give us the approval for that."

Australia's own vaccine production by CSL in Melbourne has hit 1.3million doses.

The Health Minister said there will be at least three more batches rolled out in the next eight days.

Later this week, Mr Hunt said he expects 470,000 extra doses, then another 480,000 early next week.

The third batch is expected to be 670,000.

Meanwhile, Secretary of the Department of Health Professor Brendan Murphy said Australia was playing very close attention to concerns about a possible link between blood clots and the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"There has been some attention related to this issue with clots potentially associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, and clearly, there's been the reports of a possible case in Australia," he said.

"One case is not a strong signal."

He said the TGA was meeting regularly this week, and a joint meeting was scheduled for later this week with Europeans and UK regulators.

"We are taking this matter very seriously at the moment."

He said "the benefit of vaccination outweighs any potential risk" and the government was continually reviewing the situation.

Professor Murphy insisted the vaccine rollout is "going well" but acknowledged concerns over supply.

Link:
PM says he never criticised European Union over vaccine supply - 9News

European Union spending of hundreds of millions of euro on promoting agricultural products is at odds with warnings from scientists on the disastrous impact industrial animal farming has on nature, the climate and our health and is an irresponsible use of taxpayers money, according to Greenpeace Europe.

The European Commission spent 32 per cent of its 777 million five-year farm product promotion budget on advertising campaigns for meat and dairy that ran between 2016 and 2020, a Greenpeace report published on Thursday found.

In Ireland, 78 per cent of funded promotions were targeted at meat and dairy consumption over a four-year period up to 2019 the highest proportion of European Union countries analysed by Greenpeace.

Its EU agriculture and forest campaigner Sini Erj said: When all the science is telling us to cut meat and dairy for our health, and the planets health, its unacceptable that the EU spends a quarter of a billion euro to accelerate consumption.

Farming and eating industrial meat and dairy puts us at risk of new pandemics, wrecks the climate and destroys nature its irresponsible for the EU to continue promoting this with taxpayers money.

The research found the commission spent 146 million on campaigns for fruit and vegetables over the five years 19 per cent of advertising spend.

Leaked versions of the EUs flagship Farm to Fork strategy and the Beating Cancer Plan suggested the commission intended to stop funding promotion of red and processed meat, which are particularly harmful, Ms Erj said. The final versions of both strategies contained more vague wording on promoting healthier diets, she said.

The commission is reviewing its policy on the promotion of EU farm products, with a new proposal expected in early 2022. Last month it opened public consultation on promotion policy.

Greenpeace is calling on the EU to end public funding for the promotion of meat and dairy products and recommending it be used to support ecological, small-scale farmers in Europe, and to help conventional farmers to transition to ecological methods.

The numbers for Ireland are even more skewed in favour of meat and dairy products, Ms Erj said, as 78 per cent of the EU spending on projects run by Irish organisations was used to promote exclusively meat and dairy in the period 2016-2019 country-level information isnt yet available for 2020.

This was certainly not in line with encouraging consumption thats better for the environment and public health.

Ireland received 13.4 million in total EU funding, 10.5 million of which was to support meat and dairy promotion projects just 1.4 million was spent targeting consumption of fruits and vegetables. Of nine countries subjected to deeper analysis, Spain and Ireland were found to have spent nothing on promoting organic products.

While there are some differences between countries, the overall picture remains the same, the report concluded, much more funding is being used to exclusively promote meat and dairy products than is used to promote fruits and vegetables.

Objectives in the approved funding applications of several meat and dairy promotional campaigns funded by the EU explicitly state they aim to reverse declines in, or maintain the growth of, meat and dairy consumption in Europe even if this reduction is much needed according to health and environmental research.

More than 70 per cent of EU farmland is used to raise livestock or produce animal feed. Two-thirds of EU farm subsidies currently end up supporting the production of animal products, directly and indirectly, including by supporting feed production, the report said.

Europeans consume about twice as much meat as the global average, and about three times as much dairy. To protect public health and nature, and to tackle the climate emergency, scientists are recommending a reduction of European meat and dairy consumption by at least 70 per cent by 2030, Greenpeace said.

The report featured examples of promotions including a proud of beef campaign, with 3.6 million of EU funding, which promoted the idea of becoming a beefatarian, supposedly to promote balanced, healthy diets.

The campaign fails to make any reference to the widely-recognised health risks or environmental damage associated with red and processed meat, the report said.

See original here:
EU funding of meat and dairy promotions irresponsible Greenpeace - The Irish Times