Annex 5: Letter from Miss Anne McIntosh, Chair
of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
"Thank you for inviting the Committee in your
letter of 17 December to make some initial comments on the new
European Commission's work programme. The EFRA Committee, as you
know, has an interest in a good many proposals at EU level and
agreed yesterday to highlight to you proposals relating to waste,
to air quality and to the production of organic food as matters
of particular significance. I am afraid we are not in a position
to provide any detailed analysis at this stage on these matters,
as policy is undergoing significant alteration in all three cases.
They will clearly be matters of interest for the coming year.
"The changing EU picture on waste management
policy is of particular interest. The withdrawal of previous proposals
relating to a circular economy in advance of a new policy requires
our close attention, albeit the impending end of the present Parliament
may make this a matter for the Committee's successor rather than
for us.
"In passing, I would note that the implementation
of the new phase of the CAP will also remain a significant EU-related
area of work for any EFRA Committee. You may be interested to
know that we had a very constructive discussion with the incoming
Commissioner, Mr Phil Hogan, during a visit to Brussels before
Christmas and hope to continue to build a relationship with him.
We were particularly interested to learn that he intends to make
food security his priority during his term in office."
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