On Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 October the European Parliament continued voting on a series of amendments on the shape of the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In particular, it has retained ‘social conditionality’ in the strategic plans.
While the main principles of the new CAP proposed by Parliament are known thanks to the adoption of compromise amendments between political groups (see EUROPE 12586/15), MEPs voted by a narrow majority (350 votes in favour, 325 against and 17 abstentions) on Wednesday in favour of an S&D group amendment, backed notably by the Renew Europe group, requiring Member States to include a cross-compliance system in their strategic plans. Under this system, beneficiaries of direct payments will be subject to an administrative sanction if they do not comply with working and employment conditions in legislation at national, European and international level.
Parliament also approved an amendment reserving CAP support for active farmers, to avoid disbursements to airports, aqueducts or other recreational areas.
The aid capping will be operational from €100,000, but degression or reduction of aid will be possible from €60,000. MEPs vote in favour of stopping payments to a natural person (even if the sum is received through legal persons), if the cumulative total of grants received reaches €500,000 in direct payments or €1 million in rural development funding.
The level of aid is planned to double (from 2 to 4%) under the first pillar for young farmers.
Other amendments are seek: – to provide a protein programme to ensure food sovereignty; – to curb farm expansion by increasing the level of ‘redistributive payments’; – to align strategic plans with the climate objectives of the Paris Accord; and – to oblige Member States to set targets for increasing the area under organic farming (amendments by Parliament’s Environment Committee).
MEPs also approved an amendment calling on national governments to ensure that all direct payments per hectare on their territory reach at least 75% of their average direct subsidies by 2024 and 100% by 2027.
The final votes on the CAP will take place on Friday 23 October.
The European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) criticises the Parliament’s and the EU Council’s position on the post-2020 CAP (see EUROPE 12586/7). “There must be sufficient market regulation instruments to generate prices that cover the costs of healthy and sustainable production and a fair redistribution of aid specific to this model”, it considered. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)