Reform of the CAP

NAT-VI/034
Adopted

Reform of the CAP

 Adoption: 05/12/2018
 Theme: Agriculture, Maritime and Consumer policies
Commission: Commission for Natural Resources (NAT-VI)
rejects the proposed 28% cut in the rural development budget; calls for the regions to play a prominent role in the governance of Strategic Plans calls for the introduction of voluntary crisis management tools based on the management of production volumes; proposes full convergence of direct payments between Member States and not later than in 2027; suggests taking into account a maximum of 50% of costs for employees alone for the capping of direct payments; proposes allocating at least 30% of first pillar funds to the redistributive payment; calls for quantified, measurable common European objectives for the national Strategic Plans to be included in the Regulation;
On 21 June 2018, the rapporteur presented the CoR opinion on the CAP during the closing event of the Bulgarian Presidency thematically dedicated to CAP post 2020. The event served as other fora for presentation and exchange of views on key elements of the European Commission legislative proposals on the future of CAP in continuation of the debate in different institutions, in particular the Council (AGRIFISH) during the Bulgarian Presidency. This was an occasion to exchange key messages of institutions and key stakeholders at the beginning of the co- legislative process on significant elements such as generational renewal, farmers resilience, market orientation, meeting the environmental ambition and societal expectations, territorial development and innovation. The CoR opinion on CAP was also presented during the European Food and Farming Forum on 29 and 30 May 2018. The broader consensus emerging from EU3F – the diverse ideas and principles to guide food systems reform – will be captured later this year in IPES-Food’s final report on ‘A Common Food Policy for the EU’. On 10 July 2018 the three rapporteurs for the CAP reform package : Esther Herranz Garcia (EPP, ES) (Strategic Plans Regulation), Ulrike Müller (ALDE, DE) (Horizontal Regulation) and Eric Andrieu (S&D, FR) (CMO) presented their initial positions in Com AGRI meeting. The NAT Stakeholder consultation on the opinion on Reform of the CAP on Thursday took place on 30 August 2018. On 3 October 2018 Mr Cros participated in a conference on "The role of EU regions in the Common Agricultural Policy: capitalising on the benefits of the regionalisation" at the European Parliament. On 9 October 2018 Mr. Cros was invited to speak in the Public hearing on the Future of the CAP of the Agriculture and Rural development committee at the European Parliament. The purpose of the hearing was to explore all aspects of the future reform of the CAP with a valuable external input. It was also an opportunity to contribute to the discussion with your expertise and to exchange with Members of the Committee on Agriculture in the first phase of the parliamentary work on this reform. On 9 November 2018, Mr Cros participated in a High-level event on "Making sense of a territorially cohesive Europe beyond 2020: The territorial dimension of EU cohesion policy and urban-rural challenges" in Carinthia (Austria). This was an event co-organised by the European Committee of the Regions in close cooperation with the province of Carinthia and within the framework of the #CohesionAlliance campaign. This event will provide an opportunity for political representatives – within the ongoing discussion on the proposals for a new regulatory framework after 2020 – to reaffirm their commitment to a strong cohesion policy in the future, with a strengthened territorial approach favouring the implementation of integrated and place-based approaches in functional areas in order to tackle urban-rural imbalances after 2020. On 6 November 2018, Mr Cros met with Mrs Thomas, rapporteur on the MFF at the European Parliament in order to step up EU financial support for rural development and diversify entry points and mainstream rural issues into all EU policies. On 24 January 2019, Mr Cros and Eric Andrieu (FR/PES), CAP rapporteur at the European Parliament met Phil Hogan, The European Commissioner for Agriculture, to request a fairer and more sustainable CAP and a rural agenda https://twitter.com/PES_CoR/status/1088360763503333377 On 29 January 2019, Mr Cros met Isabelle Thomas (FR/PES) MFF rapporteur at the European Parliament to request a more balanced budget between rural and urban aeras. https://twitter.com/EU_CoR/status/1090251178267590661 On 28 February 2019, Mr Cros participated the France 3 TV show "dimanche en politique" in live broadcast from the SIA (Salon International de l'Agriculture) to present the CoR opinion on the CAP reform On 14 March 2019, Mr Cros attend the Joint Conference of the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Rural Parliament, "Making rural areas the engines of a sustainable Europe", to urged the EU to come up with actions in support of rural areas, in an effort to steer policy in the direction set out in the Cork 2.0 Declaration.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS − rejects the proposed 28% cut in the rural development budget; − is against the possibility of transfer from the second to the first pillar; − calls for the regions to play a prominent role in the governance of Strategic Plans, including for the second pillar; − points out that market regulation is more effective and less costly than taking retroactive measures; − calls for the introduction of voluntary crisis management tools based on the management of production volumes; − takes the view that income insurance is an expensive instrument that is ill-suited to small and medium-sized farms and cannot be a substitute for market regulation; − proposes full convergence of direct payments between Member States and not later than in 2027; − proposes that, in those countries and regions where it has not yet been achieved, internal convergence should be gradually increased, supporting disadvantaged regions, to be complete in 2026; − supports the proposed cap on direct payments and suggests taking into account a maximum of 50% of costs for employees alone; − supports the establishment of a mandatory redistributive payment and proposes increasing its scale, with a minimum of 30% of first pillar funds; − proposes that the specific support for small farmers should be mandatory for the Member States; − calls for quantified, measurable common European objectives for the national Strategic Plans to be included in the Regulation; − supports the principle of eco-schemes, and proposes that a minimum of 30% of the national payments envelope should be devoted to them; − proposes that each national Strategic Plan should meet the minimum threshold of 40% of the CAP's overall financial envelope contributing to environmental climate objectives.
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