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EU: Farmers are important. We'll cut payments to them

Staff Writer |
The European Commission published proposals for regulations modernising and simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

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These proposals are for a regulation on the CAP Strategic Plans (a proposed new way of working covering direct payments to farmers, rural development support and sectoral support programmes), a regulation on the Single Common Market Organisation (CMO) and a horizontal regulation on financing, managing and monitoring the CAP.

These proposals give shape to the ideas for the future of the CAP, as outlined in the Communication on the Future of Food and Farming, presented by the Commission in November 2017.

The Commission proposal for the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027 includes €365 billion for the CAP (in current prices). This corresponds to an average share of 28.5% of the overall EU budget for the period 2021-2027.

Out of this amount for the CAP, €265.2 billion is for direct payments, €20 billion for market support measures (EAGF) and €78.8 billion is for rural development (EAFRD).

An additional €10 billion will be available through the EU's Horizon Europe research programme to support specific research and innovation in food, agriculture, rural development and the bio-economy.

A common set of result indicators will be agreed at EU level to ensure a level playing field for farmers in every Member States.

Each year, countries will submit a performance report to the Commission to show the progress they have made, based on these specific result indicators.

The Commission will review the reports and consider recommendations for improving performance if necessary.

A new system of possible sanctions and rewards will also be introduced to ensure that progress is made.

For example, Member States that meet their climate, environment and biodiversity targets will be eligible for a reward of up to 5% of their rural development allocation at the end of the MFF period.

At the same time, when the annual performance report indicates that sufficient progress is not being made, the Commission will be able to intervene to ensure that funding is better focused on results.

This could involve, for example, imposing a specific action plan to get the national programme back on track, suspension of payments and/or re-programming, depending on the nature of the underperformance.

Farmers know better than anyone what support they need to improve their performance.

With the new CAP Strategic Plans, Member States can work with farmers to determine what needs to be done at national or regional level to meet the agreed EU objectives, with greater flexibility to choose the most appropriate measures to achieve results.

The list of broad measures agreed at EU level will also be streamlined - for example, the new CAP defines eight broad areas for action within rural development (environment & climate; young farmers; risk management tools; knowledge & information, etc.) rather than the current 69 measures and sub-measures.

Allowing Member States to be more accountable as to how they can best meet the overall goals, rather than an overly prescriptive one-size-fits-all approach will be both simpler and more effective.

The Commission will also focus on ensuring that governance systems in each Member State work effectively, in turn allowing them to decide whether proposals are eligible for EU support rather than checking the eligibility conditions of each individual project beneficiary as is currently the case.

The new framework of the CAP provides for further convergence of direct payment levels among Member States by closing 50% of the gap between EU aid levels per hectare and 90% of the EU average.

This contributes to the Commission's commitment to ensure a fairer distribution of direct payments.

Direct payments will remain an essential part of the policy, as farmers' income needs to be supported to foster a smart and resilient agricultural sector.

The Commission is proposing a reduction of payments as of €60,000 and compulsory capping for payments above €100,000 per farm.

Labour costs will be taken fully into account. This is designed to ensure a fairer distribution of payments.


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