At the meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 6 October, EU delegations were critical of the European Commission’s proposal on the environmental aspects of the 2028-2034 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Delegations were rather reticent, mentioning in particular:
- their joint statement (16+1) calling for all CAP provisions to be brought together in a single legal act in order to guarantee the commonality of the rules (see EUROPE 13723/3);
- the link between the green architecture and the general architecture, and the risk that single national plans would pose for the financing of the CAP in general and the green transition in particular;
- concerns that compulsory co-financing would make agro-environmental measures less attractive and aggravate differences between Member States;
- concerns about the amount of funding available for environmental measures under the CAP;
- concerns about social conditionality, the administrative burden and their continuing attachment to the CAP’s current two-pillar structure.
However, some countries have welcomed the Commission’s desire to move from a compliance-based approach to an incentive-based approach, which is seen as a promising way of strengthening farmers’ commitment to sustainable practices.
The EU’s agricultural experts have thus prepared the ground for the debate scheduled for the AgriFish Council meeting on 27 and 28 October in Luxembourg (see EUROPE 13722/14). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)