Dutch Members of the European Parliament in Brussels report that an agreement has been reached in the agriculture trilogue on subsidies for environmental and climate goals in the new European Common Agricultural Policy. An agreement on the eco-schemes and a two-year ‘transition period’ pave the way for a full CAP agreement, it is expected.
Later today, the negotiators of the European Parliament will hold a press conference. It is expected that Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and Environment Commissioner Frans Timmermans will also provide further details.
The partial agreement now reached includes consensus on convergence, eco-schemes, and redistribution payments. Although some details still need to be finalized, sources in Brussels have indicated that a deal will be confirmed in the coming hours.
In terms of subsidies for Green Deal eco-schemes, 25% of the current direct payments to farmers will be reserved for ‘green agriculture’. The agriculture ministers of the 27 EU countries demanded guarantees that any unused ‘agricultural environmental subsidies’ would remain available for farmers, especially during the first two initial years.
Additionally, farmers will need to keep somewhat more arable land available for biodiversity improvement and species protection. The EU countries have raised their earlier offer and now speak of ‘reserving’ 4% of arable land.
Based on this agreement, a substantial part of the European agricultural subsidies will be used to reward the sustainable performance of farmers. Moreover, the EU countries will have more room to implement greening at the national level, instead of uniform European rules. This marks a new direction for European agricultural policy, shifting the traditional focus on income support for farmers towards rewards for green agricultural activities.
Dutch MEP Jan Huitema (VVD, Renew Europe) called this agreement an important step towards a modern agricultural policy. “The current policy that prescribes from above how farmers must go green has proven ineffective. It is much better to link money for greening directly to the greening performance of the farmer and horticulturist. The greater that performance, the higher the compensation. This stimulates green entrepreneurship,” said Huitema.
The Greens in the European Parliament find the compromise now reached unacceptable. They believe that agriculture is evading the Paris Climate Agreement and European climate policy. Vice-chair Bas Eickhout (GroenLinks) invited the liberals and social democrats in the EP to also vote against this reform of the CAP.
If the trilogue does indeed conclude today with a draft agreement, the EU agriculture ministers can vote on it Monday and Tuesday. The more than 1,000 pages of text will then be translated into all official EU languages. In November, the European Parliament must vote on the regulation texts in plenary session. After that, the CAP officially becomes EU law.