EU: 27 agree on a greener common agricultural policy, NGOs disappointed
German Agriculture Minister Julia Kolckner, at the meeting of European Agriculture Ministers, in Luxembourg, October 19, 2020. Francois Walschaerts, Pool via AP
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4 min
The Agriculture Ministers of the European Union agreed this Wednesday, October 21, after long talks, on a reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) marked by binding environmental rules.
A crucial first step before negotiations with MEPs.
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"
After a long struggle, we reached a crucial agreement
", with a "
good balance
" responding to "the
aspirations of a greener, fairer and simpler CAP
", said German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner ( CDU) early this 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.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski called the ministers' agreement a "
good starting point
" for these negotiations, believing that a "
good compromise
" could now be found.
Aid conditional on compliance with environmental standards
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
".
Ecoregimes
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
” 30% of direct EU payments to it.
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
,” commented Janusz Wojciechowski, and a deal is “
good news for our farmers.
, who need planning security for the next few years.
"
Dark day for the environment
"
The agreements reached by agriculture ministers and MEPs have been strongly denounced by NGOs, who consider them incompatible with the commitments made by the EU.
The architecture of the new CAP was drawn up in 2018, ahead of the Green Deal and “
From farm to fork
”
strategies
presented by Brussels in spring 2020. These aim in particular to reduce the use of pesticides by 2030 while reserving a quarter of the land for organic crops.
“
It's a dark day for the environment.
[...] The transition towards an ecological agriculture is from now on fallow
", reacted Bérénice Dupeux, of the European Environmental Bureau, denouncing the adoption of"
contradictory economic objectives
"and the too low threshold reserved for eco-regimes.
"
With this disastrous CAP, we end up with a text from the world before,
" the Vert MEP Benoît Biteau was indignant recently, accusing the content of eco-regimes of "
great vagueness
".
The agricultural reform, initially scheduled for 2021, is subject to a two-year transitional phase until January 2023, during which the funds for the new budget are allocated according to the old rules.
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Read also: What agricultural policy for the European Union?
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