Next week is ‘Green Week’ in Brussels and the European Union. Both the European agriculture ministers as well as the Agriculture Committee and the European Parliament will make important decisions this week about the new European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), or at least, that is the intention.
Despite more than two years of preparatory negotiations, the agriculture ministers and political groups in the European Parliament still disagree on dozens of issues, both with each other and internally.
The Members of the European Parliament debate and vote on plans to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This revision aims to make the CAP more sustainable, stronger, and more flexible. The package includes plans to strengthen mandatory climate and environmentally-friendly practices, reduce payments to large agricultural companies, and allocate more funds to smaller farms and young farmers.
The question is how the EU will spend a total of €386.7 billion on farmers and rural areas between 2021 and 2027. The ministers meet Monday and Tuesday in Luxembourg (with possible extension to Wednesday), and the European Parliament votes Monday through Friday on hundreds of indicative amendments (possibly extending into Friday evening).
According to the current status, the final votes are likely to be evaluated only by Friday afternoon around 5:30 pm. Some observers even consider it possible that deliberations will only conclude during the next plenary session in November.
The political leaders of the three largest EP groups said last week they have found a ‘guiding compromise’. Christian Democrats (EPP), Social Democrats (S&D), and Liberals (Renew) hold 60 percent of the 705 seats. However, it is far from certain that their group discipline will hold, since last week it became clear that the Agriculture Committee AGRI, the Budget Committee (BUDG), and the Environment Committee (ENVI) are still divided over the funding of the future course.
A major source of division is the extent to which agriculture must comply with new climate and environmental rules in the future. Within agricultural circles, the Green Deal is seen as the primary culprit and bone of contention. Some view the current compromises in Parliament and the Council of Ministers as a first ‘relaxation’ of Green Deal criteria within the new CAP policy.
Furthermore, the ‘compromise’ by the three group leaders is interpreted as a defeat for the S&D group. According to opposition parties in Parliament, the Social Democrats have accepted the strategy of the EPP and Renew to ‘secure what is achievable now’. The left-wing opposition accuses the S&D of not sufficiently adhering to the environmental and climate goals of the Green Deal, and that the ‘new’ CAP tries to evade urgently needed sustainability.
A similar disagreement also persists among the agriculture ministers of the EU countries. The question remains whether 20 percent or 30 percent of current agricultural subsidies should be spent on ‘organic’ objectives. Also whether there should be a total ban on the use of chemical crop protection agents, or only a partial ban. And whether this ban should take effect immediately, or only after a few years. The ministers have also not yet agreed on the percentage of farmland that should remain reserved for field margins for flowers and pollinators.
Once the ministers and the European Parliament have each adopted their final positions, both parties still have to reach agreement with one another and then with the European Commission. The ‘new’ CAP will therefore likely not come into force before 2023 at the earliest.