The European Commission is preparing to tear up the architecture of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), in what could set the stage for a radical overhaul of the EU’s farming subsidy programme, according to leaked drafts. Natasha Foote reports from Brussels.
At the heart of the Commission’s plan is a ‘simplified’, centralised mega-fund which folds agriculture into a broader framework alongside Cohesion funding and other spending programmes while scrapping the CAP’s two-pillar structure.
And while the Commission may have promised evolution, it seems it’s serving up a revolution in how the EU’s farming and regional funds are designed and delivered after 2027.
One fund to rule them all
The drafts, seen by ARC2020, confirm the rumours milling for months to merge budget lines.
The plan is to pool the dedicated agricultural and rural support into a single financial instrument: a new mechanism called ‘National and Regional Partnerships’ funded by a single ‘European Economic, Territorial, Social, Rural and Maritime Sustainable Prosperity and Security Fund’.
In short: CAP would no longer be a stand alone budget line. Instead, it would sit under the same budgetary umbrella as Cohesion funds, migration policies, and infrastructure financing, leaving CAP competing for funds and political attention within a much broader framework.
This single fund structure, the Commission argues, would allow “stronger synergies between policies” and create a more flexible, crisis-responsive budget that better reflects the EU’s shared priorities, from digitalisation and infrastructure to climate and generational renewal in farming.
“Moving from close to 540 programmes to 27 National and Regional Partnership Plans and one Interreg Plan… will reduce administrative costs at all levels,” the draft sets out, promising to simplify access for businesses, local authorities, and project promoters alike (see excerpt below).
Greater Flexibility, Fewer Strings
The idea is that each member state offers up one plan, which must be approved by the Commission, for how it deems it will best achieve the overarching objectives set out by the Commission.
“The most appropriate vehicle to operationalise the proposed framework is i.e. a regulation
establishing a Fund with a broad eligibility scope and setting out the single set of rules
governing the National and Regional Partnership Plans to be prepared by each Member State for the post-2027 period,” the leak reads.
The Commission would release funding once countries demonstrably meet certain milestones and targets, with the idea to incentivise member states to follow through on the actions they committed to in their national plans.
Basically, if you thought the last CAP gave more power to member states, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
As the leak sets out, the single fund flexible structure means “no more complex rules about transfers, no separate sets of rules for each fund”, allowing EU countries to shift money as they see fit. Funds would also be allocated progressively over time, allowing countries “additional room to adjust to new priorities and crises”.
By lumping CAP into a mega-fund governed by shared management rules, national governments and the Commission would gain significantly more influence over spending priorities.
From Two Pillars to One Pot
The plans also signal the end of the CAP two-pillar structure as we know it, integrating the two-funds structure under one single umbrella in a move designed to bring “further flexibility and simplification”.
Put simply: Hello, glorified farm income support scheme plus some market interventions, and goodbye, second pillar of environmental and rural development.
Or, to be more accurate, hello again, because the move would take us back to the pre-2000s when the policy largely revolved around market support measures and direct payments to farmers.
The Commission does recommend that this income support should be restricted to actual farmers (aka those whose primary activity is agriculture) and those most in need, as well as a consideration of capping the top level of payments, but this would be left to the member states’ discretion.
What now?
The Commission’s official proposal is due to be published this Wednesday (16 July). But having already passed through internal consultations, we shouldn’t expect major surprises at the launch.
There is a lot to digest in the plans (which we’ll be unpacking in the days to come), and this is only the start of a long and winding road to approval. As a reminder, these plans have to pass the scrutiny of both lawmakers in the Council and the Parliament, which is a process that takes years.
But the starting point for talks is unlikely to go down well among farmers, who are already preparing the pitchforks to take to the streets of Brussels this week.
ARC2020 will be on the ground in Brussels bringing you the latest on the plans, so watch this space.
This article is produced in cooperation with the
Heinrich Böll Stiftung European Union.
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