An ambitious CAP is needed to underpin the green transition

Abstract

This paper provides a critical appraisal of the main characteristics of EU agricultural policy as it now stands following agreement on the regulations for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2021 for the programming period 2023–2027.1 It also provides some recommendations for how current and future challenges should be addressed while ensuring that the CAP remains a European policy that provides value both for farmers and society. Despite perceptions to the contrary, the CAP has seen considerable change over its more than 60-year history, including both a broadening in its policy objectives and in the instruments used to pursue those objectives. The 2021 CAP reform introduced a new de- livery model that has given greater autonomy to Member States to design their national agricultural policies within a strategic planning framework. It also demanded a higher level of environmental and climate ambition, which was reinforced by the commitment of the incoming European Commission to the European Green Deal. Since the CAP reform was agreed, we have seen a rapid succession of legislative initiatives with significant implications for farmers and agricultural land management. Farmers respond that these new legislative obligations are increasingly onerous, particularly in the absence of additional financial support. They argue that many of the new requirements would reduce production and could undermine EU food security. This argument gained traction following the surge in energy prices and subsequent food price inflation due partly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A Commission Communication in March 2022 underlined that food supply was not an issue for the EU but that rising prices did have a negative impact on global food security.2 The relative priority to be given to environmental objectives versus encouraging food production has led to an increasingly polarised debate on agricultural policy throughout 2023 with political support for some Green Deal initiatives apparently slipping. With European Parliament elections in June 2024 and the Commission expected to put forward its vision for the CAP post 2027 in mid-2025, this paper highlights some key issues for decision in the next few years.