The debates by the European Ministers of Agriculture on the 'green architecture' of the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) did not progress on Monday 20 July in Brussels, due in particular to the lack of visibility on the future budget of this policy (see EUROPE 12516/5, EUROPE 12529/17).
“There is a small problem: we don't know the budget allocated to the CAP”, noted the Polish minister, Jan Krzysztof Ardanowski. EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski was optimistic that the European Council will decide on a sensible budget for the 2021-2027 CAP.
The Presidency of the Council of the EU hopes to bring EU agriculture ministers together to a common position on the post-2020 CAP in October in order to start negotiations with the European Parliament with a view to a final agreement by the end of 2020.
EU agriculture ministers were divided over certain issues, including whether or not eco-schemes should be mandatory.
France and Ireland are calling for a compulsory eco-scheme (ecological programmes) for Member States, that will be voluntary for farmers (Spain has asked for such eco-schemes to be voluntary in respect of farmers). On the contrary, several countries, such as Poland or Sweden, have advocated a voluntary eco-scheme. For Finland, as well, the eco-scheme should be voluntary for countries and farmers.
In its proposals on the post-2020 CAP, the European Commission has proposed ring-fencing for environmental programmes under the 1st pillar. Ministers have expressed divergent views on this point. A number of Member States (Italy, Poland, etc.) noted that, without appropriate financial flexibility, any possible insufficient use of these instruments would lead to a loss of available funds. Sweden, on the other hand, has supported compartmentalisation such as this.
Denmark, Spain and Croatia also considered that partitioning should apply for the whole period and not on an annual basis.
France, Spain and the Netherlands (at a level of 40%) advocated a single EU-wide percentage for climate and environment-related expenditure. Italy was of the opinion that there was no sense in setting such a minimum percentage at an EU level.
Finally, the EU Council remained divided over the issue of a minimum share of non-productive land (GAEC 9) under cross compliance. The 5% rate should not be exceeded, the Italian minister said. Hungary and Finland could accept 5%.
In addition, the Czech delegation will present a joint declaration of the Ministers of Agriculture from the Visegrád Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) (also signed by Bulgaria and Romania) on the reform of the CAP in light of the ‘European Green Deal’, the ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘biodiversity’ strategies, and the Covid-19 pandemic. (https://bit.ly/2Outdmc )
Agricultural markets. The European Commission also took stock of the situation regarding agricultural markets, especially in the context of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The German Presidency of the EU Council prepared a note including requests by EU countries for additional aid for certain sectors (wine, veal, pork, poultry, olive oil, potatoes, sugar and animal feed). Link to the document on agricultural markets: https://bit.ly/2WEHX6z (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)