We will summarize for you what the new Common Agricultural Policy provides, which the European Parliament has just adopted.

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The CAP of compromise. The European Parliament gave its final green light to the new Common Agricultural Policy on Tuesday 23 November. After long months of difficult talks, MEPs validated this text, which aims to “green” the CAP and will apply from January 2023. This new CAP has a budget of 387 billion euros until 2027, of which France remains the main beneficiary country. Here’s what she’s planning.

What is his budget?

This new common agricultural policy has a budget of 387 billion euros until 2027 – against 381 billion in the previous CAP 2014-2020. As such, the CAP represents almost a third of the EU’s multiannual budget.

This sum is divided into several components. The first and main component includes in particular 270 billion intended for direct aid to European farmers. The second concerns support for rural development.

With an allocation of 66.2 billion euros, i.e. more than 18% of the pre-allocated envelopes, France remains by far the first beneficiary of the CAP, followed by Spain (12%) and Germany ( 11%), details the annex to the finance bill for 2021 devoted to relations with the European Union (PDF).

What is changing?

With this new CAP, each State must now prepare by the end of 2021 a “national strategic plan” detailing its use of European funds. Brussels will then have to verify within six months the compliance of these national agricultural policies with European objectives: namely, the reduction of greenhouse gases – the Green Deal provides for the EU to reduce its CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030 – and the goal of reducing pesticides by 50% by 2030, with a quarter of the land reserved for organic farming.

Thus, this CAP introduces the “eco-diets”, a system which aims to encourage good environmental practices and which replaces the “green payments”, iintroduced in 2015 – these had failed, resulting in nochanges in agricultural practices only on around 5% of EU agricultural land.

This new strategy, which gives States greater room for maneuver, is not unanimous. Lithuanian environmental MEP Bronis Rope says this, that “will prevent proper implementation of the CAP”. For the French socialist and rapporteur for one of the three regulations that make up the CAP, Eric Andrieu, it comes down to “vote a blank check, because we do not know the content of the NHPs. We are suspended from the capacity of States to produce ambitious proposals”, He explained to The cross.

On the other hand, the latter admitted to AFP to “real progress” in this text, with in particular “more regulation” and penalties provided for farmers who do not respect European labor law. Indeed, for the first time, “CAP beneficiaries will have to respect the basics of European social and labor law to receive money“, underlines Euractiv.

Where does the CAP money go?

This new CAP, whose objective is to “green” agriculture in EU countries, plans to grant bonuses to farmers participating in environmental programs: the famous “eco-diets”. Each year, states will have to devote an average of 25% of direct payments to them between 2023 and 2027, with the possibility of devoting only 20% to it during the first two years – the “green payments“they represented 30% of direct aid -).

States will also have to allocate at least 35% of the rural development budget to measures related to the environment and climate.

This CAP finally includes for the first time a social component: at least 10% of direct payments will have to be redistributed to small and medium-sized farms in each EU country, while states will have to use at least 3% of their budget to support young farmers. Finally, a “crisis reserve” of at least 450 million euros is instituted in the event of price instability.

Is this CAP greener?

The European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski, present in Strasbourg, mentioned “a good result which will allow the CAP to ensure a transition towards more sustainable agriculture”. Likewise, the Italian Paolo de Castro (Socialists and Democrats, S&D), quoted by AFP, is delighted that “the new CAP will allow the EU to achieve the objectives of the Green Deal”. But for NGOs and many elected environmentalists, the objectives are not binding enough. Worse, this CAP buries organic farming.

For the elected Manuel Bompard (GUE / NGL, radical left), “eco-diets are so ill-defined that they pave the way for greenwashing processes”, he criticizes. Because, in France, “eco-diets”, will logically come back to organic farmers, but also to those who meet the HVE label, high environmental value, As such “79% of field crops are in the nails, 13% are now excluded, but by modifying 5% of their rotation, their crop rotation, that will be enough to make them eligible for eco-regimes”, we explained in July.

This label, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, certainly encourages “a reasoned use of inputs and incorporates measures intended to preserve biodiversity”, “he n‘no incentive to change the production model, and above-ground productions (pigs, poultry, greenhouse vegetables, etc.) remain authorized “, alert What to choose. “Above all, pesticides, including the most harmful, are not excluded “, putting this label across the target of 50% reduction in pesticides by 2030.

In October, the environmental authority (EA) thus issued a very critical advisory opinion on the French version of this CAP. (link in pdf), judged not up to national ambitions on the environment. In his synthesis, the instance shares its “conviction that the trajectory traced by the future PSN will not join by 2030 that of the national low carbon strategy (SNBC) 2, nor that of the biodiversity plan, nor that of the framework directive on water (WFD)”.

However, France displays the‘ambition to double its organic cultivated areas by 2027, end of the next CAP – organic farming occupied 9.5% of the useful agricultural area in 2020, according to the ministry. However, organic farmers are warning about the risks for the sector of this new CAP. Because if the old version provided for an envelope of 250 million euros for organic, divided into conversion aid and maintenance aid, the new version, of 340 million, will only be directed to conversion aid, denounced – they in June, thus penalizing farmers established in organic for more than five years.


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