MEP Lins’ CAP Report Falls Short

ECVC welcomes the following points:

- The introduction of mandatory redistributive payments is a step in the right direction, but the proposed percentage of 15 per cent is far too low.

- The decision to maintain the mandatory nature of support for small farms is welcome, but it is regrettable that no increase is proposed. ECVC calls for this to be raised to €5,000.

ECVC warns against the following harmful elements:

- A cap of €500,000 is quite simply pointless, given that we know a cap of €100,000 would already affect only 0.1 per cent of farms. ECVC calls for a cap of €60,000 per active farmer.

- The definition of an ‘active farmer’ does not go far enough. It must ensure that those receiving aid have recognised farmer status and actually carry out agricultural work in the fields.

- The funding that Mr Lins proposes to allocate to agri-environmental measures remains largely insufficient. Furthermore, relying on irrigation and precision farming poses a risk in terms of resource depletion and data hoarding.

- The reduction in coupled support, along with the removal of the minimum budget requirement, is problematic. Coupled support better reflects the realities of production. It must be combined with limits on the number of hectares and livestock.

As we emerge from a week in which the heatwave has paralysed parts of Europe, with catastrophic consequences in several regions, Mr Lins is proposing a report that fails to address the unequal distribution of aid, further weakens the CAP’s environmental ambitions, and even contains false solutions. ECVC calls on MEPs on the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) to raise the level of ambition and rectify the setbacks, so that the CAP can better respond to current challenges.