In her draft opinion on the performance framework for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), discussed on Wednesday 8 April, Maria Noichl (S&D, German), rapporteur for the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee on this issue, calls for the reintroduction of impact indicators, considered essential for assessing the overall performance of the policy in relation to its objectives.
She warns of a major risk to budgetary responsibility in the current proposal and calls for the powers of the European Commission to be strengthened. In particular, she proposes that the Commission should be able to require Member States to draw up an action plan with a timetable in the event of delays in achieving the objectives, and to suspend the payments concerned in the event of non-compliance.
Ms Noichl also wants to increase the share of expenditure devoted to the environment, biodiversity and climate to 50%, compared to 35% in the current proposal, without excluding expenditure linked to security and defence. She also believes that a five-level assessment scale (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) would provide a better measure of contribution to the objectives than the three-level system proposed by the Commission.
Finally, she recommends the introduction of new indicators, in particular to better monitor changes in farm incomes and access to land. Amendments can be tabled until 15 April. The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets is responsible for this dossier, which is linked to the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).
Link to the draft opinion: https://aeur.eu/f/lgg (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)