Parliament Plenary - Here's the Amendments to Vote for and Against | Agricultural and Rural Convention Parliament Plenary - Here's the Amendments to Vote for and Against

UPDATE: 11.50 CET 20/10/2020: Voting time has again been adjusted. Voting will now begin at 20.00 hrs today, Tuesday.

In response to the decision to vote today (Tuesday) rather than the original day Wednesday, a group of environmental NGOs have come together to ask MEPs to reject the proposal outright. They have complained that the decision is undemocratic, done by the President of the Parliament without enough notice, before translations are completed and before a final voting list is established: “We are appalled at the lack of transparency and due democratic process surrounding this entire CAP vote in the Parliament, and this is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

If these compromises amendments are adopted, all alternative amendments on those articles, even ones that do not contradict but rather complement the compromises, will fall, arguably in contradiction with the Parliament’s own rules of procedure! As the deal covered all the most important environmental aspects of the CAP and almost all articles under shared competence between the AGRI and ENVI Committee, that leaves barely anything meaningful. In other words, this latest development restricts even further our ability to campaign meaningfully for a greener CAP. At this stage we can only do damage control.”

Because of this, EEB, Birdlife, Client Earth and Greenpeace are calling on MEPs to vote for amendment 1147 to reject outright the Commission Proposal, and to vote against the entire compromise deal except for 4 articles (art 13 on farm advisory services, art. 87 on climate tracking and articles 107&139 on mid-term reviews), if it is voted on.

UPDATE: 22.00 Hrs CET 19/10/2020: Voting times for this Plenary have been moved forward to Tuesday (tomorrow, 20th October) at 2.30 according to the attached document, shared with ARC2020. This we expect is an attempt to reduce the pressure on MEPs who have been receiving a huge number of calls, tweets, text messages and more from citizens who want a greener fairer CAP. VOTING TIMES

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Updated 15.55 hrs CET on 19/10/2020 to include new info on petition

Updated 18.40 hrs CET on 19/10/2020 with new amendment section

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This week is an important one in Europe, with both the Council of Ministers and the Parliament meeting on CAP. MEPs have a plenary vote upcoming later this week. This means the Parliament will adopt an overall, established position for the next stage – trialogue negotiations with Council and Commission. Here we link to all amendments and provide a quick guide to voting for and against certain amendments.

This week is crunch time in the European Parliament, with a Plenary vote coming up midweek which will establish the Parliament’s position in CAP trilogues. Shockingly, as we reported last week, the big three centrist groups – Renew Europe, EPP and S&D – tried to railroad the process, with a joint position proposal which radically changes the idea of eco schemes, weakens GAECs (especially 9 and 10), limits environmental spending and more.

It is still unclear whether the big three will vote as a block in the parliament or not, and try to force their own amendments through. However this would be a very undemocratic move, with, as there are now, almost 1400 amendments (AMs) to actually be voted on (all are available at this link).

A number of NGOs in brussels worked over the weekend to identify the priority AMs relevant for this upcoming vote. these are listed below as to campaign for, or against, in a vote which will most likely begin Wednesday morning.

There is now strong momentum to reject the CAP reform outright. Some NGOs have proposed scrapping the CAP, while the Green group in the parliament is also now proposing this in an Amendment. Certainly, without some of the AMs below going through, pressure will mount for an outright rejection of the proposal. This includes pressure on the Commission to step up in trilogue, to keep some of the ambition of the EU Green Deal in the CAP.

The Good Food Good Farming coalition of national platforms, and Brussels-based NGOs , in collaboration with WeMove, are running a campaign on the AMs to vote for and against. (Here is their initial CAP campaign which started last week, once you sign you will be redirected to a page that allows you to email your MEP directly).

You can contact your MEPs to ask how they will vote on the proposed AMs below.

Amendments For and Against

NEW Document and in more detail, outlining these and other amendments

Support farmers who care for our environment and for the wellbeing of farm animals while providing healthy food for our communities.

VOTE FOR: AM 811, 936, 1134 §4c,1280 to 1296

VOTE AGAINST: AM 224 to 231, 546, 547, 1130 to 1134 §2, §4a, §4b

End harmful subsidies, for example to factory farms or unsustainable irrigation.

VOTE FOR: AM 87 to 92, 813, 815 to 818, 862, 1204 to 1206, 1263

VOTE AGAINST: AM 180, 244 §1a first subparagraph, 475

Tie public subsidies to basic environmental and social conditions, including on reducing soil erosion, making space for nature on farms, or guaranteeing workers’ rights.

VOTE FOR: AM 732 and 1357.

VOTE AGAINST: AM 717 and 1141

Set the Green Deal targets into the CAP, for example for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing pesticide use, to ensure every EU country and farmer contributes to tackling the current global crises.

VOTE FOR: AM 806, 808, 832, 963, 1143, (NEW) 1127, 1199 to 1201, 1309, 1325

VOTE AGAINST: AM 107, 109 to 111, 113, 114

ENGOs’ priority AMs to reject or support in the CAP plenary vote

The Process and Amendments in more detail

The first amendment to be voted on, proposed by Bas Eickhout, Martin Häusling, Benoît Biteau, Tilly Metz on behalf of the Green/EFA group, is AM 1147 which rejects the complete proposal and sends it back to the Commission. Since the compromises which have been brought in by EPP- Renew- S&D dangerously undermine the environmental ambition of the new CAP, Environmental NGOs are advocating for voting in favour of this AMD 1147.

EPP-RE-S&D Compromise amendments

These compromise amendments tear down central parts of the green architecture of the Common Agricultural Policy, such as conditionality (Art. 12, Annex III), eco-schemes (Art. 28) and agri-environment schemes (Art. 65). Accordingly, these Compromises need to be voted down and either i) go back to the text proposed by the European Commission, or ii) support alternative options, such as:

	Art. 12	Art. 28	Art. 65	Art. 86	Annex III
Poor COMP	AM 1128	AM 1130- 1131 – 1132	AM 1133	AM 1134	AM 1141
Good ALT	Go back to the Commission proposal	Commission proposal	Commission proposal or AM 1243 to AM 1252 (as per ENVI opinion)	AM 1280 to 1296	AM 756 AM 1357
Other AMs to oppose	AM 135 – 140	AM 224, 228, 229, 230	AM 438	AM 543, 546, 547	AM 717

ENVIRONMENT Committee position

With shared competence on substantial parts of the CAP reform, the Environment Committee Opinion gathered large support across all political groups and has been partly retabled for a vote in the European Parliament Plenary. Key amendments to support are:

Article and topic	Amendment number
Art. 6. Specific objectives of the CAP	For AM 806 (specific obj d – e – f – h -i) also AM 1190 (specific obj c) Against AM 107, 109 – 111, 113, 114
Art. 9b. Compliance with Paris Agreement	For AM 808
Title 3, Art. 13a Organic farming	For AM 811
Art. 14a No conflict of interest	For AM 812
Art. 17 Safeguards for DPs (no CAFO)	For AM 813 also AM 1348 and AM 1215 Against AM 180
Art. 29-31 Coupled support (safeguards)	For AM 815 to 818 also AMs 917, 918, 920, 921, 1226 to 1228, 1350 to 1352 and AM 244 if split: – For AM 244 §1a second subparagraph – Against AM 244 §1a first subparagraph
Art. 54 Wine sector.	For AM 822
Art. 92 Increased environmental ambition	For AM 832 also AM 963 = AM 1309
Art 96 Data gaps in assessment of needs	For AM 833
Annex I Indicators	For AM 843

Amendments from Groups of MEPs / COMAGRI

Article and topic	Amendment number
Art. 3 – Definitions	For AM 862
Art. 4 – Agroforestry and paludiculture	For AM 87 to 92
Art. 6a-7 – European Green Deal Targets	For AM 1199 – AM 1201
Art. 11 – Social Conditionality	For AM 732 (S&D), AM 888 (GUE), AM 1205 (Greens)
Art. 11 – Conditionality: Nitrates Directive	For AM 1204 – AM 1206 – AM 1345 – AM 1346
Art. 26 – Redistributive payments	For AM 1216 to AM 1220, also AM 1289 if AM 1134 is split.
Art. 67 – Natura 2000 payments	For AM 936
Art. 68 – No investments in CAFOs	For AM 1354, 1355, 1260
Art. 68a – Investments in irrigation	For AM 1263, against AM 475, also for AM 937 if AM 1139 is split
Art. 94 – Participation	For AM 1312
Art. 95 – Content of CAP strategic plans	For AM 971=AM 1313, AM 927=AM1314
Art. 97 – Intervention strategy	For AM 591, AM 973=1318 to AM 978=1323
Art. 106 and 108- Approval of CAP strategic plans	For AM 620 to 622, AM 838, AM 1143, AM 1153, AM 1325-1332 Against AM 623 + AM 629
Art. 127 – Performance assessment	For AM 987=1335 and AM 988=1336
Art. 129 – Data for performance assessment	For AM 1340 – AM1341