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CAP | Time for Commission to Get Real on Spending, Say Auditors

The EU spends a lot on CAP – almost 40% of its annual budget. But are these billions of euros delivering results? In a new report, the European Court of Auditors find the Commission is “overly optimistic” on the performance of CAP spending and needs to focus on the real impacts. It also confirms that 80% of direct payments are going to 20% of beneficiaries. Louise Kelleher reports. […]

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MFF – Increased EU Budget for Biodiversity and More

Biodiversity, organic farming, young farmers and other areas received a welcome financial boost from the EU institutions on Tuesday (10th November).  The European Parliament’s negotiating team and the German Presidency of the Council reached agreement on the forthcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the EU’s budget for 2021 – 2027.  […]

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CAP Budget Agreed for Next Seven Years

After almost five days of intense meetings, EU Leaders agreed on a seven year budget and recovery package yesterday. This includes the MFF (multiannual financial framework, or typical EU budget) of E1.07 Trillion, plus a specific pandemic recovery package of  E750 billion, split almost evenly between grants (E390bn) and loans (E360bn). How is CAP impacted? […]

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re: CAP | What’s the deal with capping direct payments?

In part 2 of our re:CAP series we return to Christian Rehmer (BUND, Friends of the Earth Germany), Aurélie Catallo (Pour Une Autre PAC), Ulrich Jaspers  (AbL and Die Verbände-Plattform)  and Ariel Brunner and Harriet Bradley (BirdLife) to talk capping. What should be the level for capping and redistribution and what should be the criteria for that? […]