ECVC’s proposals to implement social conditionality in the CAP

Ensuring the respect of the social and labour rights of rural workers has been part of ECVC's struggle since the organisation's very beginnings. In this context, applying social conditionality to public subsidies in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has therefore been one of ECVC's main demands over recent decades.  

For the first time, the CAP will include social conditionality, meaning that CAP beneficiaries will have to respect elements of European social and labour law to receive CAP funds. Eventhough this is a good news for ECVC who, as we said before, battled for years demanding to include it, it is also really unsure that states will implement it efficiently in their own national strategic plan. Once the inclusion of social conditionality in the CAP and its implementation, first voluntary and then compulsory for Member States through the national strategic plans, is approved, it is necessary to present detailed proposals both on the content and scope of the rights to be protected and on the implementation and control mechanisms needed to ensure the full development of this social protection mechanism for rural workers.  

That is why we are publishing a set of proposals aiming to guide and help all people involved in the implementation of the social conditionality in their countries.  

ECVC's proposals are based on our specific peasant vision and approache. For ECVC, the alliance and coordination between peasant producers and wage workers is fundamental to ensure decent working conditions and incomes for all people working in rural areas, in line with the 2018 UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Others Working in Rural Areas.  

You will find our proposals and some more context in our complete document in pdf format in the Find Out More section.