On Thursday 22 April, Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture were generally disappointed with the outcome of the latest negotiations with the EU Council on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The rapporteur on the strategic plans, Peter Jahr (EPP, Germany), called the results of the trilogue on 16 April “disappointing”.
Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) criticised “the waste of time” during these discussions and criticised the Council’s inaction on certain issues.
On 30 April, an important trilogue will be held with the green architecture of the CAP and the allocation of aid (capping and degressivity of aid and redistributive payment) on the agenda. Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR, The Netherlands) regretted that the agenda for the upcoming trilogue “keeps getting longer and longer”.
Social conditionality. Maria Noichl (S&D, Germany) spoke about social conditionality in the CAP, an issue that divides the EU institutions. “We need to strengthen this link”, she said. “The European Parliament proposes the respect of minimum social standards and this is not a delusional ambition”, she insisted.
Martin Hlaváček (Renew Europe, Czech Republic) said he hoped progress could be made soon, especially with regard to aid for young farmers. Green architecture will change the game, he said.
MEPs pointed out that there were still differences with the Council on:
- The definition of active farmer because the European Parliament insists on the inclusion of the notion of “production of public goods” in the definition of active farmer, while the Council and the Commission do not want to go further than a mention in a ‘recital’ of the text of the regulation;
- Support for young farmers because the European Parliament is calling for a 4% share of direct aid to be allocated to support young people, while the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council has proposed a compromise of 3% (2% in the Council’s initial position). In addition, the Council wants to be able to let countries decide on the age of young farmers, while the European Parliament is calling for an age limit of 40, explained Gilles Lebreton (ID, France).
Martin Häusling and Gilles Lebreton also protested against the Council’s intention to include peppers, chicory and, above all, energy crops in coupled support.
Markets. A trilogue took place on 21 April on the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation. Rapporteur Eric Andrieu (S&D, France) said: “ We only agreed on points of disagreement” on the issues discussed at the trilogue, particularly on market intervention and transparency.
The EU Member States’ Agriculture Ministers will meet on Monday 26 April by video conference to discuss, among other things, the ‘green architecture’ (see EUROPE 12704/13). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)