Greens/EFA condemns Commission and MEPs’ attempts to re-open Common Agricultural Policy
CAP
Today, MEPs will vote on the urgent procedure requested by the Agriculture Committee to hurriedly re-open the newly-implemented and painfully-negotiated Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), following the Commission’s proposal of 15 March 2024. This will make exemptions and widen derogations to the CAP’s environmental conditionality rules, e.g. deleting longstanding provisions for >9 million hectares of pesticide-free pollinator-friendly land, and weakening protection of Natura 2000 pastureland. The Greens/EFA Group strongly condemns this legislative initiative, which it considers unfounded and undemocratic, while the rushed procedure makes a mockery of the role of the Parliament and co-decision.
Bas Eickhout, Greens/EFA MEP and Vice-president of the Environmental Committee
“We deplore the decision to re-open the CAP. Not only does it fail to address the real problem of farmers' incomes, it will seriously undermine the CAP's environmental objectives, which are to promote efficient management of natural resources, restore biodiversity, and mitigate and adapt to climate change. Those conditionality rules targeted by the Commission are essential for adapting to climate change and so are vital measures upon which the survival of the sector, the ability to continue farming, and our food security depend.
The Greens/EFA Group voted against the CAP in 2021 because it remains an unjust system, which only benefits the big players and the industries, not the majority of farmers. Over the last 20 years, over 33 percent of all EU farmers have disappeared; this is a policy failure due to a hostile economic system. So we understand why farmers are protesting - there are fundamental problems in our agri-food sector that the Commission is simply not addressing here.
Without any prior impact assessment, our institutions are preparing to hand out public money with even fewer obligations to comply with basic good farming practices and environmental standards. All to the great delight of agribusiness, which will continue to make massive profits at the expense of farmers, consumers, and the environment. It makes it obvious that this proposal has nothing to do with solving farmers’ real problems, and is undermining our democratic principles.”
