The commission is working on a draft for a profound revision of the green deal in the CAP
The Commission will propose to sever the link between the Green Deal and the Common Agricultural Policy, according to a first draft regulation being circulated in Brussels. It represents yet another nail in the coffin of the green legislation that dominated the last legislature. But it could be the hardest blow dealt yet. And it is also a victory for Italy, which has been pushing for some time to review what are considered too stringent green regulations and which excessively affect a sector such as the agricultural sector which is already in difficulty. In particular, this would be a victory for the Italian agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida, often attacked instrumentally for some of his gaffes, but who has taken the fate of Italian and European farmers particularly to heart, placing himself at the head of the ministers who are calling for a profound revision of the Green deal.
For the past 25 years, farmers have had to demonstrate that they meet ecological requirements to access EU support, a requirement that has helped justify the subsidies themselves. Farmers have endured more bureaucracy at European and national levels in exchange for broader support.
But this compromise represented a delicate balance, which was shattered in February 2024, when farmers showed up in their thousands to protest many issues, including “green bureaucracy.” The Green deal, born from the mind of former commissioner Frans Timmermans, seemed to put farmers in its sights, who are in reality the first custodians of the environment, since they have derived their own and their families' livelihood from the land and its products for generations.
However, the European capitals, led by Rome, have long reiterated that this process needed to be modified, under penalty of destroying a vital sector such as the primary one, asking for the "simplification" of their administrative tasks. Later last year, the EU began dismantling environmental conditionality in the battle against “green bureaucracy”. It seems that the campaign to free agriculture from bureaucracy will have its fruitful effects next week.
But despite the savings in time and money that farmers anxiously await with the elimination of the "money for green" clauses, and the changes to the absurd rules that had been approved by the old majority (the harmful effects of which, only thanks to a fierce opposition from the European conservatives, led by Meloni's party and ID of the League, had been partially mitigated) they could however be less enthusiastic about the probable reduction of the CAP. In reality, CAP resources have been reducing for decades, diluted by enlargement and hit by repeated "freezes" in nominal terms. The budget, some say, is likely to be further eroded in the next MFF, as the Union also turns its attention to expensive “new priorities” such as defence.
But on this point comes the reassurance of those who are responsible for the new agricultural policy, the executive vice president of the EU Raffaele Fitto (who according to some sources within the commission, is increasingly listened to by President Von der Leyen, and has now become a sort of alter ego of hers), seemed to reassure the farmers, because the reform of the CAP, as he has repeatedly declared, is considered one of the priorities by this commission and he also reiterated that there will be no reduction in funds but only a natural and healthy simplification of procedures. “Agriculture is not just an economic issue, but a strategic pillar for Europe – he said. Food sovereignty is non-negotiable and we must protect our farmers from unfair competition and global shocks”. He said recently at an event on the topic.
Fitto also underlined how the new strategy aims for greater complementarity between the CAP and other European funds, such as cohesion policy, to maximize the impact of rural investments. A topic that could open the debate on a possible merger of agricultural and structural funds in the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). «We are building a more resilient and attractive agriculture, but without neglecting our leading role in the global market. Europe will continue to uphold its standards and ensure reciprocity in trade relations
The premises for a decisive change of approach, as requested by the European centre-right parties, who were amply rewarded for this in the last European elections, are all there and the fact that even the positions of the People's Party, the largest group in the European Parliament, which in the last legislature had too narrowly focused on environmentalist politics of the left and right, have radically changed, is certainly a good omen for the agricultural world and all European related industries.
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The article The commission works on a draft for a profound revision of the green deal in the CAP comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-commissione-lavora-ad-una-bozza-per-una-profonda-revisione-del-green-deal-nella-pac/ on Fri, 09 May 2025 11:45:48 +0000.