Support for CAP reform deal muted

There was muted support across Europe from the various interest groups to the deal hammered out by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney on a common stance by EU member states on a reform of the CAP.

Farming bodies, including the IFA and its EU counterpart Copa-Cogeca, welcomed the additional flexibility built into the council’s position and encouraged Mr Coveney to ensure that this survives the negotiations with the European Parliament and the commission over the coming weeks.

Environmental groups and those looking for a radical change to the bloc’s common agriculture policy were equally anxious to pressurise the minister towards more green policies and tying them in more tightly to qualifying for funds.

While the agriculture ministers took a step closer to the original European Commission proposals in some areas, they took a step back in others.

Agriculture commissioner Dacian Ciolos set out the areas of divergence and convergence after two long days of meetings and three years of planning. The aim was to make the CAP a fair, greener policy more in line with reality and able to cater for the variety of different farmers in the EU, he said.

The complex matter of getting members states to agree a common position was made more difficult because many people did not understand that there was a new decision-making process involved now, with the European Parliament having a say for the first time.

Mr Ciolos gave high praise to the Irish presidency, saying he was confident “thanks to the sterling job” they had done over the past three months and particularly what he had seen over the past few days that the tight deadline of having a final agreement by the end of June was possible.

The council was closer to the commission’s position in ending the sugar quota; on environmental concerns and in penalties for breaching them. But the commission would continue to argue against the council and for more internal convergence and on greening.

“I am very happy that the parliament and council have integrated the fact that greening will be part of the package and covers 30% of direct aid and is moving towards being obligatory as penalties will be above 30% and cover the whole agricultural area of Europe, or by equivalent measures that need to be discussed in greater detail.

“We are moving towards solutions that enable us to take account of what farmers are doing in different regions. It will not stop farmers from becoming competitive. There is a risk of greenwashing on certain elements, but I remain optimistic,” he said.

Mr Coveney said the flexibility on direct payments would reduce the transfers between farmers and allow the Irish model of partial convergence to be one of the options countries could use for distributing direct payments.

Instead of the commission’s aim to have a flat-rate payment per hectare mandatory in all member states from 2019, Mr Coveney said they opted for partial convergence by then.

There would also be more flexibility on greening payments under the council’s plan while the schemes that would qualify would be decided at national level also.