The European Commission on Wednesday he proposed to suspend for 2024 an important parameter that European farmers must respect to obtain funds from the CAP (European Agricultural Policy), the main reservoir of funds for agriculture in the European Union. This measure was explicitly requested by the French farmers’ trade associations, who for about ten days have been protesting against the French government and the European Union, accusing both of lacking consideration towards them. Similar protests have been happening all over Europe for months now.
The Commission has proposed to suspend the parameter that obliges European farmers to leave 4 percent of their fields uncultivated in order to stimulate biodiversity on their land. The parameter is part of the new rules for the CAP adopted in 2023 after very long negotiations, but in reality it never came into force: in 2023 it had already been suspended to accommodate the difficulties of farmers due to the energy crisis and the increase in expenses of transport triggered by the war in Ukraine.
However, European regulations do not provide that such an important parameter can be extended for two years in a row. The Commission therefore proposed a kind of exemption: instead of leaving 4 percent of its fields uncultivated, plants that have particularly beneficial effects on the land could be grown on those lands, such as peas, broad beans or lentils, or fast-growing crops. , which therefore have a less heavy impact than ordinary ones.
The proposal will have to be approved by the Council of the European Union, therefore by the representatives of the governments of the 27 member states. If it passes, its effects would be retroactive, i.e. it would be valid from January 1, 2024. The measure will likely be greatly appreciated by governments who are trying to contain farmers’ protests. However, environmental non-governmental organizations have already expressed very critical opinions. BirdLifeEurope he said a Euronews which considers the Commission’s proposal “shameful” and “irresponsible”. The Vice President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, he described it instead as “an outstretched hand” to European farmers.
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A large part of European farms and agricultural businesses are able to sustain themselves thanks to European agricultural funds, which still today represent around a third of the European Union’s multi-annual budget. For the budget in force between 2021 and 2027, the European Union will spend around 387 billion euros on the CAP, a figure comparable to the GDP of Denmark.
Around 95 percent of European farms or agricultural businesses are family-run and have an often very limited economic margin, also due to the ever-increasing frequency of extreme events caused by climate change and the general increase in energy costs. No European politician questions that European agriculture should be subsidized in some form. At the same time, however, agriculture is one of the sectors that so far they reduced less its own polluting emissions, compared for example to energy production and more generally to the industrial sector.
It is for this reason that before the protests of recent months, several European governments, as well as the European Union itself, had tried to impose more stringent limits to push the agricultural sector towards greater environmental sustainability.