BERN - The National Council spent Thursday on agricultural payments and declined proposals for a sharp cut in the direct-payment envelope. A modest tweak on targeting went back to committee. Hill-farm deputies from the Pre-Alps called that survival.
Urban Greens said the vote postponed biodiversity conditions that should have been attached years ago. Retail groups sat in the gallery and counted shelf prices.
The inspection fear
Speakers kept returning to the EU food-safety chapter, which is not this vote. It is the fear that travels with every farm file this year.