MEPs are due to adopt on Tuesday 23 November in a plenary session in Strasbourg the regulations of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Having of a budget of 387 billion euros over seven years, including 270 billion in direct aid to farmers, this reform of the CAP is due to enter into force in 2023. Although NGOs denounce a lack of ambition, she wants to be greener by conditioning part of direct aid, 25%, on more environmental practices: eco-schemes. This reform has significant repercussions in the various countries of Europe. Spotlight in Italy and the Czech Republic.
In Italy, enthusiastic employee unions
Italian unions are very supportive of the new CAP. They have even just written to Italian MEPs asking them to vote for the Common Agricultural Policy as one man. It is indeed the trade unions of workers who appreciate above all the new criteria which condition agricultural aid. Companies and farms that do not respect contracts and legislation on working conditions will no longer be able to claim direct public aid. This is a big step towards a more social, sustainable CAP, write the three main Italian unions in unison. A downside all the same it will be necessary to control a posteriori the farms to know if they respect the rules. And controls are not widespread in Italy. Inspectors are sorely lacking, while the agromafia – the agricultural mafia – is very present and many workers, often foreigners, are exploited! The sanctions will be proportionate to the seriousness of the facts and the system will enter into force first on a voluntary basis from 2023 but will be mandatory in 2025.
Employers’ organizations are less enthusiastic about this new CAP. Farmers will lose aid according to the Confagricoltura employers’ union, which denounces an overall reduction of 15% taking into account national aid. European funds alone fall by 10% according to the organization’s calculations. In Puglia, for example, the region which employs the greatest number of people in the agricultural sector, the representative of the employers’ union considers that jobs are seriously threatened. The other aspect that worries companies is the social conditionality of aid but also environmental conditionality with the creation of eco-schemes: 25% of all aid will be granted only to farmers who adopt demanding environmental programs. All these conditions for the employers are a lot of additional bureaucracy, he says. Finally, what is also essential in this new CAP is that the states – and therefore Italy – take part in the hand: they must themselves apply this CAP in strategic plans!
In the Czech Republic, the objective of capping European subsidies granted to the largest groups
The parties which formed a coalition to defeat Andrej Babis, the outgoing Prime Minister, in the recent legislative elections promised during the electoral campaign to attack the system of distribution of the funds of the Common Agricultural Policy. “THEe capping of subsidies for the largest companies “ is specified in full dn the government coalition agreement recently signed by these five center-right parties. In the viewfinder is mainly the agro-chemical empire, the Agrofert group, founded by Andrej Babis. It is one of the biggest in the country. Until now, it receives tens of millions of euros in grants per year. Andrej Babis, to comply with Czech law, placed this conglomerate in trust funds, but this financial sleight of hand was not enough. The lawyers of the European Commission themselves estimated that the billionaire entered politics remained the direct beneficiary of Agrofert. This conflict of interest of the outgoing Prime Minister also embarrassed his partners within the Renew group in the European Parliament, including the French MEPs from La République en Marche.
With the powerful agricultural lobbies and groups like Agrofert employing tens of thousands of people, it will not be an easy task for this new coalition. Moreover, Andrej Babis is not withdrawing from politics, far from it. He should certainly join the ranks of the opposition in a few days but he now also publicly plans to run for President of the Republic in about a year. His chances are more than good for the moment. Even if the presidential prerogatives are above all formal in the Czech Republic, this would allow him to retain a real influence on the decisions taken in Prague.