On November 23rd, the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg approved the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2023-2027 period. This new reform will mobilize some 336 billion euros, one third of the EU budget. Thanks to the changes it will introduce, more than 7 million European farmers will be able to benefit from it, and Spain, with an allocation of 47 billion euros will be the third country to receive the most of funds, only behind France and Germany.
The CAP is one of the main pillars of the EU. The new reform seeks to increase the sector’s productivity with technical investments, stabilizing agricultural market prices and ensuring a fair standard of living for primary sector workers. All these changes are expected, while ensuring quality products and affordable prices for consumers. This reform is in line with other European policies such as the Green Deal or the “Farm to Fork” strategy that seek to meet the European climate objectives.
The EU wants to become the first climate-neutral continent and the CAP reform is intended to be another step towards achieving the goal of zero emissions by 2050. For this reason, climate action is central to this reform, accounting for up to 40% of the total budget.
Farmers who adopt climate-sensitive and nature-friendly practices will receive specific payments. Among the proposed actions are the conservation of carbon-rich soils, crop rotation or the promotion of organic farming. The reform presents some new developments like more bonus for environmental measures and an increase in the margin of governments for the distribution of financial aids. Another priority will also be to provide more targeted support to smaller farms and to increase Member States’ flexibility in adapting measures to local production conditions.
All these reforms are the result of more than three years of discussions between regulatory authorities, associations, and citizens in order to reach a broad consensus on the new measures included in the CAP. However, several stakeholders have expressed their disagreement with the final version the bill that was approved.
Likewise, something that remains unsure after the reform is to relate the measures included in the CAP with the European Union’s trade policy in order to avoid unfavorable situations for European producers. This is because the environmental and social standards they must comply with are stricter than those applied by producers in third countries. For this reason, MEPs from the Socialist Group in the European Parliament presented an amendment to establish a barrier at the border to tax agricultural products from other countries that do not comply with EU standards. The implementation of these kind of measures has already being suggested for other sectors such as steel or aluminum to tax CO2 imports.
The new CAP, which will be implemented as of January 2023, presents a new management model based on national strategic plans. These will be drawn up by the Member States based on common objectives. National governments will now have to propose concrete actions to achieve the common objectives.
Ignacio González
Public Affairs
