The common agricultural policy (CAP) has undergone five major reforms, the most recent of which were in 2003 (mid-term review), 2009 (the ‘Health Check’) and 2013 (for the 2014-2020 financial period). The first discussions on the post-2020 CAP began in 2016 and the corresponding legislative proposals were unveiled in June 2018.
Articles 38 to 44 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Regulations (EU) Nos 1303 to 1308/2013 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013).
The successive CAP reforms have adapted the mechanism it uses in order to better attain the stated aims of the Treaty (fact sheet 3.2.1). The latest reform also sets new objectives for the CAP (Article 110(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013): economic (ensuring food security by means of stable agricultural production, increasing competitiveness and the distribution of value across the food chain); environmental (sustainable use of natural resources and the fight against climate change); and territorial (ensuring economic and social vitality in rural areas).
A. The 1992 reform: the great turning point
Ever since it was first introduced in 1962, the CAP has fulfilled its objectives by ensuring secure food supplies. Then, with its policy of support prices that were very high compared with the world market prices and an unlimited buying guarantee, the CAP started to produce more and more surpluses. In order to close the widening gap between supply and demand and bring agricultural expenditure under control, the Council introduced a radical change to the CAP by replacing the system of protection through prices with a system of compensatory income support.
Loss in income resulting from a significant reduction in guaranteed prices for arable crops was fully compensated for by direct aid per hectare. In the area of livestock production, the fall in the price of beef was compensated by a headage payment. These compensatory measures were entered in the WTO’s ‘blue box’ (fact sheet 3.2.7).
B. Agenda 2000: a new stage to build on the 1992 reform
The 1997 Luxembourg European Council, which declared that agriculture in Europe had to be multifunctional, sustainable, competitive and spread throughout European territory, set the strategic objective for the new reform. The outcome of the agreement reached at the end of the Berlin European Council (24-25 March 1999) was that the reform would focus mainly on the following:
C. The June 2003 reform: towards a CAP based on decoupled aid
At the 1999 Berlin Summit, the 15 Member States adopted the proposals of Agenda 2000 and asked the Commission to conduct a mid-term review in 2002 to assess the impact of the latest CAP reform. This mid-term review would end up becoming the most ambitious reform of the CAP thus far, with four key objectives: forging stronger links between European agriculture and global markets; preparing for EU enlargement; better meeting society’s new demands regarding conservation of the environment and product quality (public opinion having been perturbed by a series of animal health crises); and making the CAP more compatible with the demands of third countries.
On 26 June 2003, EU agriculture ministers meeting in Luxembourg reached an agreement which effectively overhauled the CAP and introduced a series of new principles and/or mechanisms:
D. The 2009 ‘Health Check’: consolidation of the 2003 reform framework.
The ‘Health Check’ launched by the Council on 20 November 2008 revised a long list of measures applied following the CAP reform of 2003. It was designed to:
E. The 2013 reform: a more global and integrated approach
The 2013 reform was the latest stage in this as yet unfinished CAP adaptation process [Regulations (EU) Nos 1303/2013 to 1308/2013, OJ L 347, 20.12.2013]. The broad outlines of the CAP for the 2014-2020 period concern:
Several measures have been launched, on the heels of the decisions taken in 2013, in order to adjust the regulatory frameworks to reflect institutional, economic and budgetary developments. A second milk package was adopted in 2016 with the aim of reducing supply and helping Europe’s livestock farmers cope with the price crash that followed the abolition of quotas in 2015 (OJ L 242, 9.9.2016). At the same time, the Commission held the ‘Cork 2.0’ Conference in September 2016 and re-opened the debate on rural development policy post-2020 (fact sheets 3.2.6 and 3.2.9). It has also brought forward measures aimed at simplifying the basic acts relating to the CAP (the ‘Omnibus Regulation’) (fact sheet 3.2.9) in the context of the mid-term review of the multiannual financial framework for 2014-2020 (fact sheets 1.4.3 and 3.2.2). This exercise was finished before the end of 2017 and the new rules were published [Regulation (EU) No 2017/2393, OJ L 350) 29.12.2017]. In addition, the Agricultural Markets Task Force, which was set up in January 2016, presented its final report in November 2016, suggesting improvements to regulation of the food chain and agricultural markets which should lead to legislative proposals being brought forward. Lastly, the Commission presented its communication on ‘The Future of Food and Farming’ in November 2017, the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework in May 2018 and corresponding legislative proposals in June 2018 to launch the post-2020 CAP reform programme (fact sheet 3.2.9).
On the whole, the European Parliament has supported all of the CAP reforms. It fell in with most of the Commission guidelines for the 2003 reform while declaring itself in favour of partial decoupling and rejecting the idea of a phased reduction of aid (P5_TA(2003)0256 of 5 June 2003, OJ C 68 E, 18.3.2004). Parliament also renewed its calls for full co-decision on agricultural policy, a goal that was attained when the Lisbon Treaty came into force (fact sheets 1.1.5 and 3.2.1).
Discussions on the future of the post-2013 CAP had begun in Parliament even before the Commission presented its communication and legislative proposals. Parliament adopted a resolution based on an own-initiative report on 8 July 2010 (OJ C 351 E, 2.12.2011, p. 103). MEPs set their priorities for the new CAP for the 21st century: food security, fair trade, maintaining farming activity across the whole of Europe, food quality, preserving biodiversity and protecting the environment, fair remuneration for the public goods supplied by farmers and, finally, rural development based on the creation of green jobs. These priorities were confirmed in a resolution of 23 June 2011 on the Commission’s communication on the CAP towards 2020 (OJ C 390 E, 18.12.2012, p. 49).
The European Parliament amended the legislative proposals on the post-2013 CAP and the amended text became the mandate for negotiation with the Council (resolutions P7_TA(2013)0084, P7_TA(2013)0085, P7_TA(2013)0086 and P7_TA(2013)0087, 13.3.2013). This was the basis on which, following more than 40 trilogue meetings, political agreement was reached and Parliament adopted its stance on the new regulations relating to agriculture, on 20 November 2013, immediately after adoption of the financial arrangements for 2014-2020 [resolutions P7_TA(2013)0490 to P7_TA(2013)0494 (OJ C 436, 24.11.2016, p. 270-280].
Parliament has begun working on the post-2020 CAP reform to take into account the UK’s departure and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The plenary has already taken a position on the Commission’s proposals (P9_TA(2020)0287, P9_TA(2020)0288 and P9_TA(2020)0289 of 23 October 2020). Trilogue negotiations between the co-legislators have begun and, in principle, an agreement could be reached before summer 2021 (fact sheet 3.2.9).
Albert Massot