In adopting the draft report by Carmen Crespo (EPP, Spanish) on the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on Monday 7 July (29 votes in favour, 9 against and 8 abstentions), the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture defended an increase in the 2028-2034 budget for this policy and the maintenance of voluntary ecological programmes (eco-schemes) (see EUROPE 13674/8).
The report will be put to the vote at the European Parliament plenary session from 8 to 11 September. The European Commission plans to present its proposal for the 2028-2034 CAP at the same time as the ‘roadmap' for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), on 16 July.
“What we are defending here is a CAP with its two pillars, its direct aid, not mixed up with cohesion policy funds”, Carmen Crespo told a press conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday 8 July.
The Committee on Agriculture thus rejects the idea of a single fund per country, a reform envisaged by the Commission for the next MFF.
“We believe that the CAP is such an important, fundamental policy that it cannot be mixed up with other funds”, continued Ms Crespo, who insisted on the need for Parliament to exercise the powers conferred on it by the Treaty, namely co-decision on CAP funds. We had to show the Commission and the EU Council that a large majority is in favour of maintaining a separate CAP, without a single national fund absorbing this policy, she argued.
Budget and stability. Ms Crespo stressed that the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture had come out clearly against experimentation: “We don’t want a watered-down CAP, and we want to go back to what was the policy and the essence of the 1962 CAP”. The CAP budget represented a third of the total EU budget when it was created, “and it has continued to fall, while our farmers’ production costs have continued to rise”, she pointed out.
She also said she understood the economic difficulties facing the EU and the need to finance a number of expenditure items, such as Next Generation EU (the financial instrument designed to stimulate economic recovery following the Covid-19 pandemic).
“But what is clear is that the CAP cannot be the one to pay for these expenses”, Ms Crespo insisted.
“In conclusion, what we want is the stability that farmers are demanding”, she summed up. Asked about her desire to increase the CAP budget, she insisted on the need to take inflation into account to avoid a real reduction in the agricultural budget. She also deplored the fact that certain appropriations from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) had been poorly implemented, when they should have benefited farmers, particularly for water management and new technologies. For her, it is not right that farmers and the CAP should be the ones to pay the price for budget cuts. The EU must finance the Next Generation EU’s interests.
Active farmer. Ms Crespo justified maintaining area payments, saying that “we have not found any other effective and fair formula”. In her view, the key issue is to clearly define the notion of an ‘active farmer’, i.e. a professional, whether full-time or part-time, who is eligible for CAP aid. The report proposes a definition of this concept, which the Member States may add to. Ms Crespo stressed that it was essential to protect the EU’s most vulnerable farmers.
Ms Crespo also insisted on “reciprocity in trade agreements with third countries”.
It is crucial to defend strategic sectors, she said, citing wine, milk, fruit and vegetables, as well as protein crops (“We currently import 70% of these into the EU”, she pointed out).
Not forgetting livestock farming. “We have lost 20% of our livestock in Europe, which is a tragedy for rural areas”, she said. Ms Crespo defended insurance against climate hazards and an increase in the crisis reserve budget.
IFOAM Organics Europe has welcomed the fact that the European Parliament report recognises organic farming as an innovative agricultural technique, which should be supported in the future CAP. According to Eric Gall, Deputy Director of IFOAM Organics Europe, “thanks to its many environmental benefits, as well as the numerous socio-economic advantages it brings, organic farming is an important policy lever within the CAP, and should play an even more strategic role in a framework based on incentive measures”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)