Members of the European Parliament's Environment Committee voted on Thursday 14 February in Strasbourg in favour of more ambitious measures to reduce the pressure of European agriculture on the environment and nature and make it more climate-friendly under the 2021-2027 CAP.
The amended report by Giovanni La Via (EPP, Italy) on the proposal for a regulation that will establish the rules governing support for strategic plans to be established by Member States under the future CAP, strengthens the proposal. The regulation was approved by 42 votes to 14, with 2 abstentions.
The text as voted in, introduces a financial reserve for environmental and climate objectives in the first pillar of the CAP: at least 30% of direct payments (first pillar) will have to be earmarked for ecoschemes, with a particular focus on preserving biodiversity.
MEPs called for strategic plans to reduce stocking density to 0.7 units per hectare by 2028 and for farmers to be required to respect a maximum density if they are to be eligible for CAP support (0.14 hectares per sheep, 0.71 per sow, 1.43 hectares per dairy cow).
They also opposed the allocation of national subsidies to livestock facilities that do not respect the basic animal welfare principles.
NGO satisfaction. The Environment Committee was giving its opinion for the first time under a competence shared with the Agriculture Committee for a significant part of the regulation - an "historic" first step, the European Environment Bureau (EEB) said.
While this network of NGOs welcomes the increase in environmental and climate targets, it considers that "our agricultural system should be completely reviewed", given the scale of the sector's environmental and economic crisis. Greenpeace welcomed progress in stopping the development of factory farms.
WWF welcomed this vote as "an important step in transforming the CAP into a modern policy that can help the sector's transition to green practices and environmental sustainability."
The Agriculture Committee will vote on 6 March. The European Parliament's vote is scheduled for April, at the last session of this legislature. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)