EU Institutions Strike Deal on Reform of Farming Policy
EU - Measures to boost green farming and offer additional support to young farmers are part of a provisional agreement between Parliament, Council and the Commission to reform the EU's agriculture policy after 2014. The deal would also boost farmers organisations' bargaining position when negotiating prices and cut red tape for spending EU funds.
27 June 2013
3 minute read
About the agreement
The political agreement on the reform of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) comes after three months of intensive negotiations, but decisions still need to be taken on capping direct payments to bigger farms and distributing funds between farmers.
"The political agreement we reached is a victory both for EU farmers and consumers," said Paolo De Castro, chair of the agriculture committee and head of Parliament's negotiation team. The Italian member of the S&D group added: "This is the first time Parliament has been involved in the reform of EU farm policy as a full co-legislator and we proved that we are fully capable of doing the job. We managed to improve the proposals while defending Parliament's mandate."
How budget negotiations could affect it
The deal on the CAP reform depends on a final agreement being reached on the EU's long-term budget for 2014-2020. On the morning of Thursday, 27 June, a political agreement on the long-term budget was announced by EP president Martin Schulz, Commission president José Manuel Barroso and Taoiseach Enda Kenny for the Irish presidency of the Council. However, this agreement on the long-term budget will still need to be voted on by MEPs during a plenary session.
The EP's agriculture committee will vote on the full package of new CAP regulations once the negotiations on the EU's long-term budget have been completed. The proposals on the agricultural reform can only enter into force if they have been approved by the majority of MEPs during a plenary session
