Europe\u2019s farmers are facing the biggest threat to their bottom line in years. With Brexit about to blow a hole in the EU\u2019s finances and calls for money to be diverted elsewhere \u2014 such as migration and combatting terrorism \u2014 the size of Europe\u2019s multibillion-euro subsidy scheme (the Common Agricultural Policy, or CAP) is going to be slashed from nearly 40 percent of the overall EU budget to less than a third.<\/p>\n
Threats to the CAP don\u2019t stop there: Farm lobbies, environmental campaigners and EU governments are concerned about plans to be unveiled Friday by the European Commission to loosen Brussels\u2019 tight grip over farm policy and hand back control to national capitals. The days of Eurocrats being in charge of\u00a0dictating what is grown where or how many hedgerows can be planted are numbered.<\/p>\n
Instead, countries will be forced to design their own policies, known as national strategic plans, a move that critics say could result in the word \u201ccommon\u201d no longer being part of the Common Agricultural Policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s enough here to be very angry,\u201d St\u00e9phane Travert, France\u2019s agriculture minister, said in a televised debate earlier this month when asked to comment on proposed cuts to the CAP. \u201cIt\u2019s a blind, drastic and massive hit and we do not agree.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leaked drafts of the CAP proposal include a plethora of new regulations that could have long-lasting effects on farmers | Francois Monier\/AFP via Getty Images
\nThe Commission is to present a detailed overview of exactly how much each EU country will receive under the new CAP, which covers the years from 2021 to 2027.\u00a0The Commission insists there will be a 5 percent overall cut, but experts and analysts have lined up to point out that Brussels has got its numbers wrong. The cuts in real terms, when accounting for inflation, will be more severe \u2014 in the order of 15 percent \u2014 they say.<\/p>\n
Leaked drafts of the CAP proposal,\u00a0seen by POLITICO, include a plethora of new rules and regulations that could have long-lasting effects on farmers. For instance, a mandatory ceiling on the amount of subsidies that farms can receive will be brought in \u2014 a move aimed at rectifying a situation where 80 percent of the bloc\u2019s subsidies go to just 20 percent of its farms. Although the Commission originally set the ceiling at \u20ac60,000, officials briefed on the issue said a last-minute decision was made to raise the amount to \u20ac100,000.<\/p>\n
Other measures include an attempt to provide newer member countries with a larger slice of the financial pie by giving them more cash per hectare.<\/p>\n
The Commission will also propose scrapping \u201cgreening measures,\u201d which tie money to a set of environmental policies, and bring in an \u201ceco-scheme\u201d that would give farmers more cash if they take extra measures to help the environment.<\/p>\n
Despite the new measures \u2014 which according to the draft proposal are based on nine \u201cobjectives\u201d aimed at the likes of bolstering farm incomes, fighting climate change, preserving landscapes and\u00a0attracting new farmers \u2014 many in the industry feel the Commission has fallen way short of delivering a legislative proposal fit for the 21st century.<\/p>\n
Yet the man behind the reforms, European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan, has staunchly defended Brussels\u2019 plan to give countries more powers and said the cuts to the CAP budget could have been much worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs public representatives, I\u2019m sure you are familiar with the frustrations of farmers trying to apply a \u2018one-size-fits-all\u2019 solution, which is designed to be applicable from the Inishowen peninsula to the Greek islands or from Slea Head to Lapland,\u201d Hogan told\u00a0lawmakers in his native Ireland in April.<\/p>\n
On the budget, he has said that \u201cthe key decision will not be made by the Commission at all, but rather by the member states, whose leaders have to decide whether or not they are prepared to increase their contribution to the EU budget and, if so, by how much.\u201d Many countries are appalled at the idea of paying more into the EU budget to make up for the shortfall to be caused by Brexit.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, some of the EU\u2019s biggest farming countries including France, Spain and Ireland, pledged to fight for higher CAP subsidies during the next EU budget period.<\/p>\n
Green fears
\nIf there\u2019s one area that\u2019s really causing anger and division among those involved in CAP reform, it\u2019s the environment. Green campaigners have long called on Brussels to use its huge sway over farmers to push them toward better environmental practices.<\/p>\n
Yet farmers complain they\u2019re being put under increasing pressure to be more environmentally friendly, in return for less money, while Europe is flooded with imports from parts of the world where environmental regulation is less strict.<\/p>\n
Still, there is wide agreement that Brussels\u2019 previous attempt to turn farmers green was a failure. At present, around one-third of farm subsidies are conditional on compliance with the \u201cgreening\u201d rules: measures such as planting several crops simultaneously to promote soil health, and regulations on leaving strips of land fallow or hedges intact for the benefit of birds and insects.<\/p>\n
Farmers hate the greening measures, saying they don\u2019t make sense; do nothing for the environment and can result in them being fined for making a tiny mistake. Environmentalists say the measures are mere window dressing.<\/p>\n
As a result, the greening measures are to be scrapped and countries will be asked to\u00a0devise their own agri-environmental schemes. Brussels will also propose that environmental considerations are applied to every cent that goes to farmers in direct payments, which are based largely on farm size. Those conditions will include\u00a0rules on the sustainable use of pesticides, water management and reducing the use of fertilizers, a senior Commission official said.<\/p>\n
But green groups are not happy about the proposals.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the environmental point of view, it\u2019s really dire,\u201d said Ariel Brunner, head of policy at the NGO BirdLife Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe risk from our point of view is that you\u2019ll see a massive surge in perverse subsidies,\u201d he added, saying he fears governments will use their newfound freedom to fund important but polluting sectors such as dairy or pork.<\/p>\n
In addition, the section of the CAP that deals with rural development \u2014 money that is often used for environmental schemes \u2014 is\u00a0facing a much deeper budget cut than the section of the CAP that deals with direct farm subsidies. Farm Europe, a think tank, and Alan Matthews, a CAP specialist at\u00a0Ireland\u2019s Trinity College, say the cut to rural development payments could be in the region of 25 percent when inflation is taken into account.<\/p>\n
Food vs. Farm
\nOlivier de Schutter, co-chair of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, went as far as to call the Commission\u2019s CAP proposal\u00a0unfit for solving modern-day challenges and ignorant of the realities affecting the food supply chain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t believe that there can be salvation from a new CAP. We believe in a food policy that is much more consistent across the whole system,\u201d he said. He described the current CAP as being \u201cfull of inconsistencies\u201d such as trying to meet international targets on climate change while at the same time promoting export-driven policies in the meat and dairy sectors.<\/p>\n
The new CAP proposal has come in for severe criticism | Oli Scarff\/AFP via Getty Images
\nThe new CAP proposal \u201cis based on ideas from the 1960s and is not well equipped to address the needs of the 21st century,\u201d De Schutter said.<\/p>\n
Despite all the opposition, one seasoned diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said policymakers in both the European Parliament and European Council would fight tooth and nail for a better financial deal for farmers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone hopes the cuts are scaled back again when the negotiations start, like everyone hopes that there\u2019s going to be new elections in the U.K.,\u201d said Birthe Steenberg, secretary-general of the Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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