EU member states and the European Parliament agreed Friday on a major reform of the bloc's vast farming subsidies, drawing concerns from NGOs that said it was not "green" enough.

"Today's agreement starts a real shift towards a greener and fairer Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)," tweeted the European Commission's vice president Frans Timmermans.

"It's not perfect, but still a big step in the right direction," he said.

The deal came after several rounds of the crunch negotiations failed largely on environmental concerns. It should be signed off by EU farming ministers on Monday.

The sums involved are huge. The CAP runs to 387 billion euros ($472 billion) over seven years -- a third of the EU's total multi-year budget -- with 270 billion euros going in direct aid to Europe's farmers.

The EU's 27 member states approved the reform of CAP in October, but they had to agree with MEPs on the details.

"We were keen to strike a balance between the economic development of farms and the necessary protection of the environment and climate," said centre-right French MEP Anne Sander, who was a key player in the deal.

"Some people sometimes lose sight of the fact that without farm income, there will be no environmental and climate sustainability," she added.

The agreement was reached after long delays over concerns in particular on special premiums granted to farmers who adopt practices deemed more beneficial for the environment.

MEPs initially called for them to represent at least 30 percent of direct payments to farmers, while the member states argued for a threshold of 20 percent.

In the end, the agreement provides for an average of 25 percent per year over the seven-year CAP period, with the ability to gradually phase-in the new system.

MEPs and member state negotiators also agreed to penalise farmers who do not respect workers' rights, with the risk of payment cuts in the event of infringement.

One of the most contentious discussions was over biodiversity requirements with environmentalists furious that obligations on farmers didn't go further.

The World Wildlife Fund complained that the resolve originally demonstrated by MEPs ended up being "just a mirage".

The deal handed the bloc's farming-intensive member states "full satisfaction", it said.

German giant Aldi to phase out battery farm meat
Berlin (AFP) June 25, 2021 - German supermarket giant Aldi said Friday it will stop selling meat produced with low animal welfare standards by 2030, in a move hailed by Greenpeace as a "milestone".

"The customer is ready," the budget store said in a statement, citing increasing sales of sustainably produced goods and a change in consumer awareness as the reasons for the decision.

Meat sold in German supermarkets is rated according to animal welfare standards from one to four, with the lowest rating offering the poorest conditions.

Aldi said it was aiming for 15 percent of meat in its stores to adhere to levels three and four by the end of this year, rising to 33 percent by 2026.

It aims to stop selling level-one meat completely by 2025 and for all meat to adhere to levels three and four by 2030.

International and frozen goods will be exempt from the policy.

Greenpeace said the discount retailer had landed a "bull's eye" and praised the decision as "a milestone that shows the whole industry the way to go".

Thomas Schroeder, president of the German Animal Welfare Federation, also welcomed the move and called for other retailers to follow suit.

"From our point of view, the current legal basis for the keeping of animals in agriculture is not sufficient to ensure animal welfare," he said.

Renate Kuenast of the Green party accused the government of being "overtaken" by the food industry on the issue and of being too slow to work out new meat production methods with farmers.

The Bild daily warned that means "one kilogramme of mince for 0.99 euros will no longer be available at the supermarket" in sausage-mad Germany, calling it an "Aldi-Bombshell".

Germany's rating system measures the amount of space the animals have and whether they have access to outdoor space, as well as the quality of their feed, care and health monitoring.

Level four guarantees at least twice as much space as level one, as well as permanent access to outdoor space.

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