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Negotiations by the EU states on the future multi-billion dollar agricultural policy dragged on into the morning hours. In the end, however, there was still a compromise.
EU states have agreed to a multi-million dollar agricultural policy reform. After almost two days of negotiations, the agriculture ministers of the member states agreed that morning in Luxembourg on a compromise proposal from the German Presidency of the EU Council.
Since the European Parliament also wants to determine its final line this week, both sides can start negotiations with each other. With Germany holding the presidency of the EU states until the end of the year, the Federal Minister of Agriculture, Julia Klöckner (CDU), led the negotiations.
After hours of conversations in smaller formats, he went to the plenary session with the other ministers on Wednesday night around midnight with a new compromise proposal. After further improvements, the compromise was achieved.
Fear of environmental regulations
Land reform costs a few hundred billion euros and is therefore the largest item in the EU budget. Many farmers depend on direct payments from Brussels, but at the same time they fear excessive environmental regulation. The EU states had been negotiating the reform at the Luxembourg meeting since Monday morning. In 2018, the EU Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the years 2021 to 2027.
There is now a transition phase for the next two years, so the new rules would not come into force until 2023. According to the proposal of the EU Commission, states should, among other things, have more freedom as to how they want to achieve a number of specific goals, such as preserving nature, protecting the climate and ensuring food quality. To this end, each should draw up national plans that should be approved by the EU Commission. In addition, states must offer “eco-regulations”, that is, environmental specifications that go beyond mandatory requirements. If a farmer complies, he receives additional money.
Two-year “learning phase”
It was debated until the end whether federal states should be obliged to offer these so-called green plans and how much money they should set aside for them. The compromise now states, among other things, that EU states must reserve 20 percent of direct payments to farmers for organic regulations, including a two-year “learning phase.”
Late on Tuesday night, the European Parliament also agreed on key points of the reform. According to this, at least 30 percent of direct payments should be reserved for eco-regulations.
