This Wednesday, the European Parliament (EP) approved a revision of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), making some environmental rules more flexible and reducing the administrative burden on farmers. It requires only the approval of the Council to take effect.
With 425 votes in favor, 130 against and 33 abstentions, MEPs adopted the text already agreed with member states on a proposal from the European Commission in response to sector demands that were expressed throughout the European Union (EU).
The review changes the rules on three environmental conditions that farmers must meet to receive funding, and also gives EU countries more flexibility to grant exceptions to CAP rules if there are problems with their implementation, and in the event of extreme weather conditions.
Relaxed environmental rules relate in particular to fallow obligations and crop diversification: farms of up to ten hectares are now exempt from controls and sanctions for non-compliance with some CAP rules.
The procedure for making changes to the national strategic plans of the Common Agricultural Policy of the member states has also been simplified.
The EU Council, for its part, will vote on the proposal at a ministerial meeting scheduled for Monday in Luxembourg, where the bloc’s ministers meet three months a year: April, June and October.
The proposal was urgently considered for passage in this legislative assembly to respond to the crisis in the sector, which has sparked strong protests by farmers in several countries, including Portugal.
In a statement, environmental group Greenpeace warned that rules protecting nature and soil quality on agricultural farms were being scrapped, threatening the EU’s ability to feed future generations.
Greenpeace also warned that farms exempt from environmental controls cover a total area of almost 17 million hectares, the same size as Germany.