Brussels | Commission’s CAP Files to Continue

Work will continue in the new parliament on the CAP files developed by the Commission and progressed under the previous parliament. With a new parliament now in place, there was the potential for all of the previous work to be rejected, and allowed lapse under what’s called an unfinished business rule. While this will not be the case, what will happen is still uncertain. Here we unpack the options.

By Oliver Moore

Work will continue in the new parliament on the CAP files developed by the Commission and progressed under the previous parliament. With a new parliament now in place, there was the potential for all of the previous work to be rejected, and allowed lapse under what’s called an unfinished business rule. While this will not be the case, what will happen is still uncertain. Here we unpack the options.

At at the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee (AGRI) meeting on the 4th of September (opens pdf) on the 4th September, a decision was made to ask for the continuation of work on the three CAP files, including the most important CAP Strategic Plans file. Technically, this involved the AG Committee contacting the leaders of the main groups in the Parliament (called the CCC – or Conference of Committee Chairs) “requesting a resumption of the 3 CAP files and that the files not be place on a Plenary agenda before November (at the earliest).”

“We must ensure that new MEPs are given a chance to contribute to the draft laws but at the same time, to save time and provide our farmers and consumers with clarity sooner rather than later, we want to avoid starting the debate on the future of the CAP from scratch,”  Norbert Lins (EPP, DE)  Chair of the Agriculture Committee said in a statement.

The new parliament could potentially have thrown out all the files as unfinished business. With the Green MEP surge and general disgruntlement with agri-food environmental performance on the rise, this was seen as something of an option. However, significant delays in farmer’s payments and in progressing what will be a massively changed bureaucratic set up (with Member states writing Strategic Plans) were just two of the reasons AGRI MEPs asked for continuity rather than change.

Even with continuity, there may nevertheless be delays. As reported in the Irish Independent  “Under the original Commission proposals Member States were to lodge CAP Strategic Plans for approval by January 1, 2020. These were then to be approved within eight months, with expenditure under the new plans starting in 2021.

However, this schedule has been totally disrupted by Brexit and its consequent impact on the overall EU budget or the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).”

Going forward, there are two main routes: the AGRI report goes to plenary and a yes/no vote, or the political groups amend the report to incorporate other Committee’s opinions. The latter could result in a much more complicated set of adjustments including amendments by the Environment committee (ENVI), political groups, groupings of 76+ MEPs or other committees, or also a process if there are more than 50 amendments. This would involving return files to the AGRI Committee using what’s called Rule 198,  and also possibly referring files  back to the political groups.

In both options, ENVI keeps it hard fought recently gained shared competence, while there will be opportunities to table ENVI ams in the final plenary vote.

Environment Committee Gains Right to Bring CAP Amendments to Plenary

There is still the possibility of an outright rejection of the draft via this more circuitous route. If this sounds all very confusing, we have below this fantastically detailed diagram to help you follow the decision-making maze.

 

  

Avatar photo
About Oliver Moore 210 Articles

Dr. Oliver Moore is the communications director and editor-in-chief with ARC2020. He has a PhD in the sociology of farming and food, where he specialised in organics and direct sales. He is published in the International Journal of Consumer Studies, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology and the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. A weekly columnist and contributor with Irish Examiner, he is a regular on Countrywide (Irish farm radio show on the national broadcaster RTE 1) and engages in other communications work around agri-food and rural issues, such as with the soil, permaculture, climate change adaptation and citizen science initiative Grow Observatory . He lectures part time in the Centre for Co-operative Studies UCC.

A propos d'Oliver Moore
Oliver voyage beaucoup moins qu’auparavant, pour ce qui concerne son activité professionnelle. Il peut néanmoins admirer par la fenêtre de son bureau les mésanges charbonnières et les corbeaux perchés au sommet du saule dans le jardin de sa maison au cœur de l’écovillage de Cloughjordan, en Irlande. L’écovillage est un site de 67 acres dans le nord du Tipperary. Il comprend d’espaces boisés, des paysages comestibles, des lieux de vie, d’habitation et de travail, ainsi qu’une ferme appartenant à la communauté. Les jours où il travaille dans le bureau du centre d’entreprise communautaire, il profite d’une vue sur les chevaux, les panneaux solaires, les toilettes sèches et les jardins familiaux. 

Ce bureau au sein de l’écovillage constitue en effet un tiers-lieu de travail accueillant également des collaborateurs des associations Cultivate et Ecolise, ainsi qu’un laboratoire de fabrication (« fab lab »). 

Oliver est membre du conseil d’administration de la ferme communautaire (pour la seconde fois !) et donne également des cours sur le Master en coopératives, agroalimentaire et développement durable à l’University College Cork. Il a une formation en sociologie rurale : son doctorat et les articles qu’il publie dans des journaux scientifiques portent sur ce domaine au sens large.

Il consacre la majorité de son temps de travail à l’ARC 2020. Il collabore avec ARC depuis 2013, date à laquelle l’Irlande a assuré la présidence de l’UE pendant six mois. C’est là qu’il a pu constater l’importance de la politique agroalimentaire et rurale grâce à sa chronique hebdomadaire sur le site d’ARC. Après six mois, il est nommé rédacteur en chef et responsable de la communication, poste qu’il occupe toujours aujourd’hui. Oliver supervise le contenu du site web et des médias sociaux, aide à définir l’orientation de l’organisation et parfois même rédige un article pour le site web. 

À l’époque où on voyageait davantage, il a eu la chance de passer du temps sous les tropiques, où il a aidé des ONG irlandaises de commerce équitable – au Ghana, au Kenya, au Mali, en Inde et au Salvador – à raconter leur histoire.

Il se peut que ces jours-là reviennent. Pour son compte Oliver continuera de préférer naviguer en Europe par bateau, puis en train. Après tout, la France n’est qu’à une nuit de navigation. En attendant, il y a toujours de nombreuses possibilités de bénévolat dans la communauté dans les campagnes du centre de l’Irlande.