Stronger European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control: Council and European Parliament reach provisional agreement...

Monday 29 November 2021

● Council of the EU   29/11/2021 23:38  Stronger European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control: Council and European Parliament reach provisional agreement   Today, representatives of the Council and the European Parliament concluded a political deal to renew the mandate of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). With this updated mandate the EU aims to strengthen the ECDC's work in the areas of surveillance, early warning, preparedness and response. The ECDC is an EU agency tasked with supporting the EU in its efforts to fight infectious diseases through epidemic intelligence, scientific advice and training activities among other things. "While another wave is hitting us hard we need to look ahead and plan for the future. This pandemic has shown that we need better insights into cross-border health threats, up-to-date action plans and more coordination. A stronger mandate for the ECDC is another step in that direction." Janez Poklukar, Slovenian Minister for Health

● Council of the EU

29/11/2021 16:42  Agreement reached on collection of regional farming data   Today the Council and the Parliament agreed to update the way regional farming statistics are reported in the EU. The move comes as part of efforts to modernise Europe’s agricultural statistics system to bring it in line with developments in the sector, including the reformed common agricultural policy. The new regulation amends the existing legislation on economic accounts for agriculture by formalising the requirement for member states to report regional agricultural data to the Commission. The rules will take effect from 2023 at the earliest and will contribute to better reporting under the new common agricultural policy (CAP). The Council’s negotiations with the Parliament were led by the chair of the Special Committee on Agriculture, Simona Vrevc, on behalf of the Slovenian presidency. "Today’s agreement marks an important step forward in our efforts to modernise the European agricultural statistics system, thus improving the quantity and quality of data available for policy making, administration and research. We firmly believe that this regional data will also contribute to a more targeted and effective implementation of the CAP." Simona Vrevc, chair of the Special Committee on Agriculture