On Monday 22 March, the agriculture ministers of the EU Member States discussed the implementation of the future national strategy plans for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Several ministers, including those from Germany, France, Spain, Luxembourg and Ireland, regretted the absence of an impact assessment on the implementation of the ‘European Green Deal’ objectives. Some ministers considered that the European Commission’s recommendations on these strategic plans were not legally binding.
It is the Member States that must decide, on the basis of subsidiarity, what priority to give to the recommendations, the Belgian Minister said.
“Anything that is not binding does not count”, the Hungarian minister even insisted. Finland and Ireland insisted on taking into account the specificities of the Member States and the different starting point in different countries.
The CAP cannot do everything. “The national strategic plans are not the declination of the ‘European Green Deal’, but are the declination of the CAP”, insisted the French minister, Julien Denormandie. The CAP should not contribute alone to the objectives of the ‘European Green Deal’, he warned.
Belgium also stressed that the CAP should not be the only instrument used to implement the objectives of the ‘European Green Deal’. “The CAP will not be able to do everything”, the Irish minister also said.
On 18 December, the Commission published recommendations for each Member State to contribute to the preparation of their strategic plans under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). These recommendations are part of the dialogue between the Commission and the Member States to help them implement the CAP from 2023 onwards and to ensure that their CAP strategic plans contribute ambitiously to the ‘Green Deal’ for Europe.
Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, recalled that the Commission must assess and adopt these strategic plans. After that, EU countries will have to implement these strategic plans “as approved by the Commission”, the Commissioner said. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)