Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 20 October 2020 - Brussels

Common agricultural policy - support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States and financed by the EAGF and by the EAFRD - Common agricultural policy: financing, management and monitoring - Common agricultural policy – amendment of the CMO and other Regulations (debate)

  Bas Eickhout (Verts/ALE). – Mr President, thank you very much, good morning and greetings from the Netherlands. We’re going to have a very important discussion today and in the coming weeks and months on the future of European agriculture. I think what is very important is that yesterday again it was once more confirmed by the European Environmental Agency how within Europe we are still losing biodiversity, and there is a direct link with our common agricultural policies and that loss of biodiversity.

So this is the chance to fix it, to really link the CAP reform to the Green Deal, and how that possibility has been missed by the deal of the Christian Democrats, Social Democrats and Liberals. Just to go through a couple of these measures. First of all, there is this voluntary way of dealing with eco-schemes. So it’s voluntary, but if you don’t look at how you can comply with it, we come to very vague terminology like ‘you need to have actions to improve the sustainable use of pesticides’. What does that mean? Almost any measure will comply with these eco-schemes; it’s not meaningful at all.

On the other hand, the price we pay for that is that we are weakening even the general conditions, weakening the proposal of the previous Commission that did not even link it to the Green Deal, so that’s another very clear example that we are just copy-pasting non-functioning conditions from the previous time to this time. And then on top of that, we are even stating that the direct payment should be at least 60%, with that capping the possibility of companies to go even further on greening, and on top of that no link at all with the Farm to Fork Strategy being made.

You know how weak this deal is, you know it very well. That’s why you do all the tricks now to influence the voting list and to make it as early as possible – because you know that the deal is weak and the more it will be scrutinised, the more people will doubt it. So therefore, dear progressive forces in Renew and Social Democrats, follow your own voice and don’t follow this crappy deal that is missing the opportunity of linking this CAP reform with the Green Deal that is so badly needed.