Watch the public debate (switch to your language and select by member state contribution)
Read the Presidency’s press release on the 3123rd Agricultural and Fisheries Council meeting.
Reservations and calls for more national flexibility dominated the public deliberations in today’s Council of Agricultural Ministers on the direct payment scheme of the EU Commissions CAP reform proposal. Massive rejection of the proposed capping came from Germany and other Member States. Others concentrated on new bureaucracy they suggested would be created by additional environmental requirements for 30 percent of the direct payments. The extent to which direct payments should be distributed more equally between new and old member states was earmarked for later bargaining and discussion in the light of a finalised overall EU budget.
