Brussels – Anticipated by one day to prevent a rejection at the last available voting session for this legislature from killing the deal before the European elections, in the end, the European Parliament’s vote on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) amendment did not have any last-minute twists and turns. Today (April 24), with 425 votes in favour, 130 against, and 33 abstentions, MEPs put their seal on the proposals submitted by the EU Commission last March 15 to address problems encountered in the implementation of the strategic plans of the CAP and after months of tough protests of European farmers in member states and Brussels.
The green light in plenary to the changes to the 2023-2027 CAP followed the activation of the emergency procedure to the mini-plenary earlier this month, even though the European People’s Party requested, at the opening of proceedings on Monday (April 22), that the vote initially scheduled for tomorrow (April 25) be brought forward to today. The Regulations will now have to be formally adopted by the Council before being published in the Official Journal of the EU.
No surprises are expected even at the Agriculture Council scheduled for next Monday (April 29) in Luxembourg, which will have to put an end to the issue, also considering the absence of resistance already shown by the 27 representatives of the member states at the Special Committee on Agriculture at the first test vote last March 26 (while hundreds of tractors invaded the streets of Brussels again). Everything goes in the direction of what the Belgian rotating presidency of the EU Council anticipated, responding to the cabinet request von der Leyen to speed up the approval process: “If everything goes as planned, it will come into force by the end of spring.”
What the Pac amendment involves
After the temporary waiver through 2024 to uncultivated land, the revised CAP plans to eliminate the allocation of “a minimum proportion of arable land to non-productive areas” from standard 8 of “Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions” (BCAA)- (that is, fallow land) “while maintaining the protection of existing landscape elements.” Member states are instead required to “establish an eco-scheme” offering support to farmers “to maintain a portion of arable land in a non-productive state or to create new landscape elements” (such as hedges or trees). Farmers will be “specifically rewarded for these non-productive areas that are beneficial to biodiversity on farmland and rural areas more generally.”The twenty-seven countries will also be able to provide “specific exemptions” from the rules on BCAA standards 5, 6, and 7 (tillage management, ground cover, and fallow land) for situations that “are likely to be contrary to their objectives” such as in the case of specific soil and subsoil conditions. More specifically, on crop rotation (standard 7), the Commission proposes to retain it but allow member states to “add the possibility of meeting this requirement through crop diversification,” a flexibility that should enable farmers “affected by regular drought or excessive rainfall” to meet the condition “in a way that is more compatible with agricultural realities.”
Among the most significant changes is the proposal to exempt farms under 10 hectares from cross-compliance checks and sanctions, a measure that “affects 65 per cent of beneficiaries” of the CAP but “only 10 per cent of the total agricultural area,” the Commission recalls. “The aim is to alleviate the administrative burden related to controls, which is higher for small farms than for larger farms.” In other words—in addition to the general flexibilities on BCAA—burden relief for small farmers with a maximum farm size of no more than 10 hectares of agricultural area will ensure that they do not have to “be checked for compliance with statutory management requirements,” since the exemption “would not significantly hinder the role of cross-compliance requirements in contributing to climate and environmental objectives.” In addition, it is also proposed to increase the number of requests for amendments to the Strategic Plan of the CAP from one to two per year: “This is necessary to deal more quickly with the changing situations of farmers, including those caused by adverse climatic events,” the Commission specifies. Three paths will be followed regarding farmers’ remuneration and their position in the food supply chain. First, the Commission will launch an observatory on production costs, margins and business practices in the agrifood supply chain (with representatives of all food supply chain sectors and representatives of member states and the Commission) whose first meeting “is scheduled for the summer.” Secondly, strengthening the rules applicable to contracts that farmers enter into with the food industry or retail buyers is proposed through new options to the Regulation establishing a common organization of the markets in agricultural products (CMO) and cross-border enforcement of rules against unfair trade practices. Finally, the Commission will conduct a “thorough evaluation” of the Directive on Unfair Trade Practices in the Food Supply Chain in force from 2021, with the first report delivered in the spring of 2024 and a more detailed evaluation to be presented in 2025 along with legislative proposals “if appropriate.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
