Agriculture MEPs approve agreement on EU farm policy reform 

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A provisional deal on more environmentally friendly, fairer and transparent EU Farm policy from 2023 onwards was approved in the EP’s Agriculture Committee on Thursday.

The rules agreed informally last June by Council Portuguese presidency and Parliament negotiators, led by EP rapporteurs Peter Jahr (EPP, DE), Eric Andrieu (S&D, FR) and Ulrike Müller (Renew, DE), update the three EU laws that will govern the 2023-2027 EU common agriculture policy (CAP).


MEPs ensured that preserving and strengthening biodiversity in the EU and meeting the European Union’s commitments under the Paris Agreement will become one of the objectives of the future EU farm policy. They also managed to strengthen mandatory climate and environmentally friendly practices, the so-called conditionality, that each farmer must apply to get direct support.


MEPs also ensured that at least 10% of national direct payments would have to be used to support small and medium-sized farms. EU states could use at least 3% of their CAP budgets to support young farmers, the deal says.


MEPs got Council on board for setting up a mechanism to connect, as of 2025 at the latest, national labour inspectors with CAP paying agencies to penalise breaches of EU labour rules.


MEPs insisted on more transparency on the final beneficiaries of EU subsidies and ensured that member states will be given access to the EU data-mining tool to avoid circumventing EU rules and to duly protect EU funds.

More details on the outcome of the negotiations between EP and Council is available here and in Q&A note.

 

Next steps

The deal on three EU farm policy rules was approved by Agriculture and Rural Development Committee on Thursday by 38 votes to 8 and 2 abstentions (Strategic plans), 40 votes to 5 and 3 abstentions (Common market organisation in agricultural products) and 39 votes to 7 and 2 abstentions (Financing, management and monitoring of CAP). It now needs to be approved by the full House, possibly during November session.