Marc Hall Archives

The European Parliament launched the debate yesterday (17 February) on the first successful European citizens’ initiative, on the right to water. While MEPs largely expressed support for its main aim, they were divided on whether water services should be private or public.

The UN is preparing the publication of a set of principles to foster corporate responsibility in the agricultural sector, based on the theory that long-term food security depends on businesses taking more seriously their role in the global food system.

The European Union announced yesterday (4 January) that it would give €320 million to UNICEF for projects tackling under-nutrition and infectious diseases, which are among the main causes of child mortality.

Greater food system efficiency and curbs to the expansion of cropland are necessary to prevent the collapse of global ecosystems, says a report presented today (24 January) by the UN at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Some 30,000 people gathered in Berlin, Germany, on Saturday (18 January) to demonstrate against large-scale 'agribusiness', but the question remains about how to produce enough food to feed a growing population without intensive farming.

The European Union and the United Nations are looking to balance short-term security and "stabilisation" measures with immediate humanitarian aid, pledging along with other donors some half a billion dollars to the conflict-stricken Central African Republic.

The European Parliament called yesterday (14 January) for a ban on the most hazardous and lightweight plastic bags by 2020, approving a strategy published by the EU Commission last year.

Italy has raised concerns with other European governments over a UK proposal for ‘traffic light’ food labels across the 28-country bloc, saying the scheme to warn consumers of high fat or salt content could damage the reputation of the Mediterranean diet.

France’s agricultural income per farmer dropped by 16.4% in 2013, largely due to the country's dependence on revenue from cereals, according to the European Commission.

EU ministers gave their final political approval today (16 December) for the Common Agricultural Policy, which sets out the European Union's farming strategy for 2014-2020.

SPECIAL REPORT / Health campaigners are calling for the European Commission to take action to alter people’s eating habits and curb rising obesity, but officials are wary that such a move may expose them to “nanny state” complaints, sources say.

The European Parliament has agreed to a "fairer and greener" reform of the EU’s agriculture policy, but MEPs from across the political spectrum weighed in with their discontent.

Conservationists are warning against an “irresponsible” increase in bluefin tuna quotas, as members of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas meet for talks in South Africa this week.

This weekend saw the beginning of the European Week for Waste Reduction, a move by EU regions to draw attention to the continent’s waste problem and some of the grassroots initiatives looking for a cure.

European ministers will decide whether to approve the cultivation of variety of genetically modified maize, after the European Commission was legally obliged to pass on the 12-year-old request.

Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, has told the UN general assembly to press governments to make the once “forgotten right” legally binding worldwide.

The European Parliament called on Thursday (24 October) for EU countries to better implement European environmental rules despite the initial costs involved.

Increasing vulnerability to extreme weather events, climate change, economic crisis and conflict have 19 countries facing either “alarming” or “extremely alarming” hunger levels, says the Global Hunger Index, to be launched today (16 October) at the European Parliament.

The London 2012 Olympics point to new ways of dealing with 'drastic plastic' say industry sources, as the EU calls for ramped up waste recycling targets and better infrastructure.

SPECIAL REPORT/ A letter to the head of Russian customs from the EU's top tax official, Algirdas Šemeta, has put a last ditch and temporary stop to a costly dispute that had seen European cargo emptied at the border, the EU commissioner told EURACTIV.

The European Parliament has agreed to rules that would prevent EU companies, particularly in the pharmaceuticals sector, from exploiting the natural resources of the world's indigenous communities by recognising their 'intellectual property rights' over local biodiversity.

A critical biofuels vote in Strasbourg on Wednesday (11 September) is expected to be tight but Corinne Lepage, the French Liberal MEP with the lead on the dossier, is "cautiously confident" of securing an agreement over an issue that has threatened to fracture the European Parliament.

The European Union admired Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa’s now-abandoned radical conservation effort to keep Yasuní’s vast oil reserves untapped but did not want to foot the bill, preferring more traditional forms of aid.

Experts, who estimated that the biofuels industry received the equivalent of a €10-billion “Cyprus bailout” in public support in 2011, have shaved the figure by a fifth.