CAP Archives - Page 3 of 36 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Strategic Dialogue on Agriculture – what’s in it, what’s next?

September 5, 2024 Natasha Foote

The EU strategic dialogue on agriculture has finally spoken – and plenty has emerged. After 7 months of talks, this group of agrifood stakeholders presented a hefty 100+ page document including recommendations for the future shape of the agrifood sector to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday (4 September). The group hopes to steer her upcoming Vision for Agriculture and Food, and policies over the course of the next 5-year political cycle more widely. So what are the key takeaways? And what’s next? ARC’s Natasha Foote highlights the key headlines and ideas. […]

Re-CAP: Breaking down the breakdown of the EU’s green farming measures

July 28, 2024 Natasha Foote

The last few months have been a rollercoaster ride for the EU’s farming subsidy programme, which has seen its green ambitions sacrificed on the altar of food security and politics. As this mandate comes to a close, ARC has put together a re-CAP for you with all the twists and turns in the Common Agricultural Policy over the past few years – and what’s next for the policy. […]

Brussels News – GMO No-Gos and Political Roundabouts

June 27, 2024 Natasha Foote

This week saw an unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to push the EU’s proposal to loosen rules on gene editing over the finish line, leaving the plans on ice. Meanwhile, it’s all been Politics with a capital P as Belgium prepares to hand the presidency over to Hungary, while leaders jostle for Brussels’ top jobs and considerations start on redrawing the lines of the European Parliament’s committees – a shake up which could have big impacts on the way agriculture files are handled. Natasha Foote and Oliver Moore bring you the latest from Brussels. […]

Impact and Opportunities of the 2023-27 CAP Reform in Denmark

June 12, 2024 ARC

In the report that accompanies this article, CONCITO analyses the implementation of the 2023-27 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform after its first year of implementation, using Denmark as a case study. The focus lies on examining the new components of the reform, namely the New Delivery Model (NDM), the enhanced conditionality, and the eco-schemes, and their contribution towards both the European Union (EU) and national objectives concerning climate, biodiversity, and the environment. Recommendations are also made for improved delivery. […]

The German Farmers’ Association’s Double Game – Shrewd farmer lobbyists

June 10, 2024 ARC

The German Farmers’ Association (Deutscher Bauernverband) promises nature conservation, but acts against it. Jost Maurin (Die Tageszeitung, taz) makes the case that this trajectory could serve as a warning for the EU Strategic Dialogue, in which environmental and farmers’ associations are to develop a vision for the future of agriculture. […]

Farmers Protests, Policy Failures and the Lobby

June 10, 2024 ARC

Wouter van de Klippe delves into the recent farmer’s protests, and assesses the role both the agri-lobby Copa-Cogeca, and the Common Agricultural Policy itself, have played. Van de Klippe argues that behind Europe’s farmers protests lie decades of policy failures and a lobby determined to steer the conversation. […]

“CAP-as-you-wish Instead of Future-Proof Farming and Food Policy”

May 27, 2024 ARC

There have been massive protests by farmers in many European countries in recent months. Depending on the country, different agricultural policy issues have played a role. Hannes Lorenzen, President of ARC2020, on the state and prospects of EU agricultural policy. This interview originally appeared in the German magazine “Unabhängige Bauernstimme”. […]

What the EU farmers survey tells us – and doesn’t tell us – about CAP burden

May 8, 2024 Natasha Foote

For months, we have been hearing about the bureaucratic burden that has been pushing EU farmers to the brink. Now, the preliminary results of a Commission survey designed to unpack this are in – so does this administrative load turn out to be heavy enough to justify the hasty re-opening of the EU’s farming subsidy programme? Natasha Foote digs in. […]

Spring to Summer 2024 Editorial – Build Better Policy from the Ground up

May 7, 2024 Oliver Moore

Oliver Moore rounds up the state of play as the mandate of the EU institutions completes. Its not been a good finish, but there are amazing things happening on the ground. It is from here – from the ground up – that we must build better policy. […]

Neoliberal Limits – Farmer Protests, Elections and the Far Right

April 30, 2024 Natalia Mamonova

The ongoing farmer protests are the longest and most impactful of all the farmer protests in the history of the European Union and have led to dangerous changes in EU environmental policy and triggered a new rise of far-right political groups across the EU. In this interview, Natalia Mamonova talks about the limits of neoliberalism, the current state of farmer protests, changes in EU policy and the alarming forecast for the upcoming EU parliamentary elections in June. […]

Green Light Now, Green Fight Later – CAP Fast Track Risks Legal Wrangle

April 26, 2024 Natasha Foote

The European Parliament has officially backed plans to fast-track changes to the EU’s farming subsidy programme which dismantles its environmental requirements in the process. However civil society is not ready to let the decision go down without a fight, with lawyers gearing up to challenge the move. Natasha Foote reports. […]

Confidential Legal Advice on CAP Fast Track Uncovered – Critique of a Meek Opinion

April 20, 2024 Oliver Moore

Under pressure from farmer protests, upcoming elections and its own cowardice in the face of climate and biodiversity collapse, the political establishment in Brussels and beyond is fast-tracking the evisceration of CAP’s environmental elements. This rush job began on 15th March with a proposal from the Commission, and will likely end Thursday 25th when the last full plenary of the Parliament rubber stamps the proposed regulation. The latest piece of sequencing was confidential legal advice given to the European Parliament on the process. In part one Natasha Foote outlined the proposal and the legal advice. Here Oliver Moore applies a critical analysis to shortcomings therein. […]

Confidential Legal Advice on CAP Fast Track Uncovered – what’s in it?

April 19, 2024 Natasha Foote

When the Commission proposed re-opening the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy in efforts to placate protesting farmers, stakeholders were quick to question the legitimacy of the process, with some even labelling the move “unlawful”. Now, the European Parliament’s legal service has weighed in on the process. So what is the verdict? And what does it mean for the future direction of the policy process? Natasha Foote digs in. […]

Parliament Pushes Full Steam Ahead to Dismantle CAP’s Green Rules

April 12, 2024 Natasha Foote

The European Parliament has given its blessing to a fast-track approval process to push through a proposal aimed at simplifying the EU’s farming subsidy programme, which effectively guts the policy of its environmental requirements. Natasha Foote reports. […]

Goodbye Green and Fair, Hello Fortress Europe – Eco Ambitions dropped from EU leaders’ draft 5-year plan

April 10, 2024 Oliver Moore

It’s back to the future as the EU’s green ambitions face the chopping block, with priorities shifting to security and competition. That’s according to the European Council’s vision for the next 5 years, as revealed in a leaked internal draft of EU leaders’ ‘strategic agenda’. Oliver Moore and Natasha Foote have the details, including the leaked document itself. […]