Rushed CAP changes are not about farmers, but agro-industry profits at the expense of society
- politics and law
- Transparency and food safety
The rushed and quirky bureaucratic manoeuvre of reopening the Common Agricultural Policy runs counter to the interests of farmers, consumers, and our environment, and only serves to deliver profits for the big agri players promoting it.
Natacha Cingotti, Senior Campaigns Strategist
The text was published on euronews.green on 19 April 2024 by Natacha Cingotti, Senior Campaigns Strategist at foodwatch International.
On several mornings this spring, Brussels' European Quarter woke up to the sound of giant tractors honking loudly, with tonnes of soil and manure dumped around street corners, and bonfires blocking important crossroads.
It wasn't exactly the cosy atmosphere that European bureaucrats are used to.
This spectacular roadshow was set up by farmers representing small and big farms across Europe to highlight their everyday struggles to make a decent living from their almost 24/7 work shifts to produce our food.
Unfortunately, in no time, their legitimate demands for fair incomes got heavily instrumentalised by the big agro-industry players.
Indeed, for those keen on putting the last nail in the coffin of the EU Green Deal agenda, the impressive protests came at just the right time to justify a rushed re-opening of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and suggest removing the few environmental safeguards of the farmers’ subsidies payment system instead of addressing its deeply rooted loopholes.
The message landed on the fertile soil of a European Commission president desperate to be re-appointed for the next mandate and was fast-tracked onto the desks of the Commission and national governments.
What happened, President von der Leyen?
On 15 March, the European Commission put forward a new legislative proposal with targeted amendments to simplify existing procedures and, most worryingly, to undo the environmental conditionalities that are currently in place for the receipt of EU farm subsidies — the so-called good agriculture and environmental conditions or GAECs.
Within weeks, the proposal got rubberstamped by national capitals and proposed for emergency voting in the European Parliament, conveniently bypassing the committee in charge of environmental matters.
The amendments have now been added to the agenda of the last plenary meeting of this Parliament’s term on 22-25 April.
How can this careful compromise now be reopened in the space of weeks, without impact assessment, nor meaningful societal debate — and also, it now turns out, without comprehensive parliamentary scrutiny?
The details about how this money is to be awarded are renegotiated every few years, a lengthy and administratively intensive process, involving numerous stakeholders.
Rightly so, considering the high stakes for the entire food system and society.
So how can this careful compromise now be reopened in the space of weeks, without impact assessment, nor meaningful societal debate — and also, it now turns out, without comprehensive parliamentary scrutiny?
We're witnessing immense corporate pushback
What is unfolding under our eyes is one of the most successful corporate-pushed attacks against the few remaining environmental safeguards of our Common Agricultural Policy, dangerously circumventing usual decision-making processes to sign off permanent legal changes that will only benefit short-term profits of big industry players.
The current CAP already encourages an agricultural system in which large-scale industrial producers receive higher amounts of money, leading to the concentration of the agricultural landscape, locking farmers into reliance on toxic intrants (e.g. fertilisers, synthetic pesticides).
<p>The proposed CAP alterations take us backwards and run counter to the environmental and climate emergencies we face, the EU’s own commitments under the Green Deal, and importantly, farmers’ demands for fair incomes in the long run.</p>
Still, farmers have to respect a minimal set of environmental standards in order to receive EU subsidies. The GAECs apply to close to 90% of the utilised agricultural area in the EU and play an important role in mainstreaming sustainable farming practices.
The proposed CAP alterations take us backwards and run counter to the environmental and climate emergencies we face, the EU’s own commitments under the Green Deal, and importantly, farmers’ demands for fair incomes in the long run.
Farmers’ organisations representing smallholders such as Via Campesina have repeatedly alerted on the vital role of measures that enable the environmental transition of our farming system for the long-term survival of farmers, but they have been ignored due to the successful scaremongering of agro-industry players about environmental measures.
Losing credibility and hurting society's long-term interests
The European Commission, national capitals and some of the sitting MEPs have already lost credibility towards citizens after giving in to corporate pressure on major EU Green Deal files, abandoning the regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides (SUR), the nature restoration laws, or the animal welfare reform package.
As we approach the European elections, another step backwards on the CAP would send a terrible public signal.
Besides the short-term profits of big agri players, it is more than troubling that this reform will be detrimental to the rest of society’s long-term interests: a fair livelihood for farmers, thriving ecosystems that allow growing healthy food, human health, and long-term economic gains for the food sector at large.