Several NGOs said on Thursday 20 May that the draft compromise on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) “doesn’t match up to what’s needed” in terms of climate protection and biodiversity, food security and the fight against pollution.
The EU institutions hope to reach an agreement on the reform next week (see EUROPE 12721/23).
Greenpeace, BirdLife, ClientEarth and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) have produced a paper (https://bit.ly/2RppEDh ) analysing the compromises discussed on the CAP.
These NGOs regret in particular: - the maintenance of the ‘harmful’ CAP subsidies for intensive livestock farming (currently three billion euros per year for livestock production); - that eco-schemes to improve animal welfare are at risk of becoming “hidden subsidies for factory farms”; - no mandatory requirements to reduce nutrient use; - that mandatory rules (‘conditionality’) to protect grasslands and peatlands have been seriously weakened by Ministers and MEPs; - the weakness of the mandatory rules on biodiversity (the area is likely to be under 5% of space required to be set aside, whereas the minimum to be effective is 10-14%; in addition, non-arable farms would be exempt); - the lack of measures to reduce pollution sources. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)