When presenting details of its proposed common agricultural policy (CAP) reform on Wednesday, 23 July, the European Commission stated its belief that support for farmers in the European Union would be “more targeted and fairer”.
The European Commission has affirmed that a simplified degressive payment per hectare will replace the current complex system of payment schemes (see EUROPE 13684/4, 13682/3, and 13682/4).
While maintaining direct payments, the reform introduces measures aiming to give young farmers, small farms, and family farms an advantage, for instance, through capping and degressivity.
Coupled income support would also be strengthened: the cap on spending would increase from 13% to 20%, with an additional 5% possible for the most vulnerable regions and sectors, such as livestock farming or sensitive border areas.
Environmental protection and climate action remain at the centre of its priorities, but the approach would evolve: going from using prescriptive conditions to rewarding positive actions.
The current system of eco-schemes and agri-environmental measures would be merged into a single category of agri-environmental actions, which would be co-financed by Member States. Farmers would be given clear incentives to adopt practices that favour animal welfare, biodiversity, and the climate. There would also be a new transition payment—up to €200,000—to support farms that are transitioning to more sustainable models.
Integrating the CAP into national and regional partnership plans would, according to the European Commission, “create greater synergies and more impactful measures where needed, while safeguarding the predictability of income support for the farmers”.
Farm Europe’s analysis. The European Commission has proposed [implementing] a degressive mechanism above €20,000 and capping aid at €100,000. According to the think tank Farm Europe, these measures would hit “those farmers who are currently the backbone of European production” the hardest.
The reduction in aid would affect more than half of the utilised agricultural area (UAA) in the EU. This proportion rises to two-thirds if the smallest farms (receiving less than €5,000 in aid) covered by flat-rate aid are excluded. One-third of farmers with more than 12 hectares would see their subsidies reduced as a result of degressivity [being implemented] at the European level.
In countries such as France and the Czech Republic—which actually have very different agricultural structures—the national agricultural model itself would be called into question, according to Farm Europe.
In France, a reduction in aid would affect more than 50% of the farmers that receive more than €5,000 per year—representing 73% of the country’s agricultural area.
In the Czech Republic, this proportion would reach 85% of the productive sector.
In Italy—known for its relatively modest medium-sized farms—no less than 57% of hectares would be affected by degressivity if the structures eligible for the small farmers scheme are excluded.
The European Commission’s explanations: https://aeur.eu/f/hzq
Farm Europe’s analysis: https://aeur.eu/f/hzp (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)