Three major European nature umbrella organizations say that the national strategic plans submitted so far for the new European agricultural policy are absolutely insufficient. The World Wildlife Fund, the Birdlife Foundation and the European Environmental Agency EEB say that at most about twenty percent of the NSP measures submitted to date contribute to nature restoration.
For the study, Birdlife Europe, the European Environment Bureau (EEB) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) examined the strategic plans of 21 EU countries. They come to the preliminary conclusion that 40 percent of the proposed plans miss the mark, and that another 40 percent could work with some adjustments.
In addition, they criticize the fact that many programs that are likely to be effective are underfunded and likely to be supplanted by less demanding but more financially attractive programs.
In addition, the three conservation groups insist that the eco-schemes will be financially attractive to farmers so that they can also be called up in the area and become effective. As is well known, the Member States have until 1 January to submit their strategic plans for approval in Brussels.
The study authors acknowledge that draft national CAP plans may still be subject to change before final submission. Nevertheless, the current variants would already provide "valuable" information about what the 48.5 billion euros for the eco-schemes would be spent on.
Some countries are known to earmark a large part of the former 'income support' as a reward and premium for elements of nature conservation that are already paid by governments (from other sources!).
The three nature organizations therefore call for a critical examination of the national strategic plans for the CAP by the European Commission. It is as yet unclear whether EU countries will make their NSPs public. Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski has said that he will make his reaction to those plans public.
The European Commission has informed the agricultural umbrella organizations COPA-Cosega that the Commission will carefully check all NSPs for compliance with the principles of the European Green Deal. CPA-Cosega staffers met last week with Wolfgang Burtscher, the top EU official (DG) for Agriculture and Rural Development.
They have once again emphasized that in their view the goal of the EU agricultural policy is to produce healthy, safe and affordable food. They pointed out that the new NSPs impose new climate and environmental obligations. The farm-to-fork strategy sets high targets for reducing the use of fertilizers and crop protection products.