EU leaks plans to see how new Cap fits with farmers and public

European Commission will announce details of a ‘greener and cleaner’ reform of the Common Agricultural Policy this week

European Commission will announce details of a ‘greener and cleaner’ reform of the Common Agricultural Policy this week

THE EU has a very sophisticated way of dealing with difficult policy changes and this is particularly true of its largest and most expensive one, the Common Agricultural Policy (Cap).

It sets up a series of groups and bodies to report on changes, holds public consultations and all the time its officials leak proposals to see how they are received by the stakeholders and the public.

And so it has been with the reform of the Cap, which costs €55 billion a year and accounts for well in excess of 40 per cent of the commission’s annual budget.

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Leaks have been coming hard and fast since the commissioner for agriculture and rural development, Dacian Ciolos, began reform of the policy, which ends its current run in 2013.

The commissioner has been outlining the importance of making Cap “greener, fairer, more efficient and more effective”.

“The Cap is not just for farmers, it is for all EU citizens – as consumers and taxpayers. It is therefore important that we design our policy in a way which is more understandable . . . and which makes clear the public benefits that farmers provide to society as a whole,” he said.

He did, however, pledge to preserve the idea of a direct farm payment to support farmers, which brought a sigh of relief from Irish farmers who get over €1.3 billion in direct payments.

The commission then began leaking what it wanted and so far has established the public, but not necessarily farmers, will accept that 30 per cent of the direct payment will be made to reward environmentally sustainable practices in agriculture.

This is certain to form part of new Cap proposals for “greener and cleaner” farming.

The really tough issues on whether on not there will be an EU-wide flat rate payment by the acre, an upper limit on what larger farmers can receive and how the budget should be divided in an enlarged Europe remain.

For instance, when it was leaked that all payments would be based on the year of 2014, there was near hysteria here because those who had leased land began demanding it back so they would benefit rather than the tenant.

Last week, the Irish Farmers Association, which is opposed to what it calls the “excessive greening” of the new Cap, sought and got assurances that farmers must have activated payment entitlements in 2011 to be able to secure entitlements in 2014.

Another leak proposing an upper limit on farm subsidies has found favour with 47 per cent of EU citizens polled.

The next official proposals on Cap reform from the commission, to be published this Wednesday, should throw light on some outstanding questions, including how much flexibility governments will have in distributing Cap funds and if there is to be a €300,000 upper limit on what individuals can receive.

The process is expected to trundle on until well into 2013, when the expectation is that Ireland, which will then hold the EU presidency, may have more influence on the outcome.

In the meantime, expect more leaks from the commission as it edges closer to finding a new Cap to replace the current one.