European Parliament rapporteur on reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP), Norbert Lins (EPP, German), suggests in his draft report made public on Tuesday 16 June that degressivity of direct aid, deemed too bureaucratic, should be abandoned in favour of a system redistributing direct payments from large farms to small or medium-sized farms (see EUROPE 13887/4).
Specifically, 15% of the income support budget would be allocated to a decoupled payment (not linked to the level of production). This measure would take the form of annual decoupled income support. Member States would be responsible for setting out in their national plans the amount per hectare and the number of hectares taken into account in calculating this aid.
As for capping this aid, Mr Lins wants to raise it from €100,000 (in European Commission proposal) to €500,000. Norbert Lins proposes that this limit should be calculated on aid received per natural person rather than per legal person. He nevertheless suggests leaving Member States the option of setting a limit of €100,000.
As regards coupled support, which would be optional for Member States, the rapporteur proposes a ceiling: 12% of CAP budget for coupled support, a limit that could be increased to 15% for protein crops, mixed farms or areas at risk of abandonment, particularly in eastern border regions (border with Russia, Belarus, Ukraine).
This draft report will be presented on 29 June in Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture, at the same time as Éric Sargiacomo’s (S&D, French) report on the common market organisation (CMO).
Link to Mr Lins’s draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/mdv (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)