Julien Denormandie has been the French Minister of Agriculture since July 2020. -

Jacques Witt / SIPA

EU agriculture ministers agreed on Wednesday, after lengthy talks, on a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) marked by binding environmental rules - a crucial first step before negotiations with the EU. MEPs.

"After a long struggle, we have arrived at a (...) good balance" responding to the "aspirations of a greener, fairer and simpler CAP", said German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner (CDU) early Wednesday morning, following a two-day ministerial meeting in Luxembourg.

The guidelines adopted by the member states will now be the subject of negotiations with the European Parliament, which votes this week on its own proposals.

States and MEPs will have to decide together by early 2021 on the rules that will apply from January 2023. European Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski described the ministers' agreement as a "good starting point" for these negotiations, believing that a "good compromise" could now be found.

387 billion euros over seven years

With an already fixed budget of around 387 billion euros for seven years, the CAP is the EU's biggest budget item.

According to the agreement of the 27, all farmers should be required to meet much stricter environmental standards, a sine qua non condition for receiving European financial aid.

Small farms would be subject to simplified controls, "which would reduce the administrative burden, while at the same time ensuring their contribution to environmental and climate objectives".

Above all, “eco-regimes”, a system of bonuses paid to farmers to support participation in more demanding environmental programs, would become compulsory: each state will have to devote at least 20% of direct EU payments to this.

The aim is for farms to receive additional funds if they go beyond basic climate and environmental standards.

This point has been the subject of significant friction, many states in Eastern Europe fearing to lose European funds if an insufficient number of farmers participate in environmental programs.

“Just a few hours ago we had very different opinions”, and an agreement is “good news for our farmers”, who need planning security for the next few years, commented Janusz Wojciechowski.

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