Cioloş stands firm on greening, capping

Agriculture commissioner insists that environmental conditions must be mandatory.

Dacian Cioloş, the European agriculture commissioner, told agriculture ministers meeting in Luxembourg yesterday (26 April) that the European Commission will not compromise on including greening requirements in the main pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Several ministers said that a Commission proposal to make some direct payments to farmers conditional on environmental improvements was too cumbersome. They said that such greening measures should be optional and should not be included in the first pillar of the policy. They argue that it should stay in the second pillar, which deals with rural development.

Cioloş said he would be willing to broaden the list of measures that can count as ‘greening’, but only if the requirement remains in the first pillar.

Some ministers also worried that capping payments to larger farmers would have a detrimental effect on their agricultural sectors. Cioloş said the amount of the cap could be changed, but the existence of a cap is non-negotiable.

“Direct support to farmers’ income cannot be unlimited,” he told journalists after the meeting. “For some member states the subject will continue to be discussed. But for me, discussion will continue to take place, but not on the existence of the capping scheme.”

Ministers reacted positively to a Danish proposal for a compromise on the definition of an ‘active farmer’. Only these farms would be eligible for payments, to prevent money going to large landowners who are not farming.

Several member states, as well as farmers’ organisation Copa-Cogeca, have complained that the Commission’s proposal to determine whether land is being actively farmed based on income would involve too much bureaucracy. The Danish proposal would instead base it on whether farming practices are being used on the land.

The Commission has remained sceptical of this approach. At the meeting Cioloş suggested a new method that would establish a ‘negative list’ that would mean only some farmers have to prove that they are actively farming. Speaking after the meeting, Denmark’s agriculture minister, Mette Gjerskov, said they will work on combining these two approaches.

Ministers disagreed with the Commission’s proposal to increase support for farmers working in specific sectors or regions in difficulty, so-called “voluntary coupled support”. Many member states wanted this coupling to be voluntary. They also want the schemes to support young farmers and small farmers to be voluntary.