At its last meeting, the European Parliament approved the review of the EU's common agricultural policy.
The revision of the common agricultural policy (CAP) was approved at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The CAP review, approved by 425 votes to 130 with 33 abstentions, strikes a balance between maintaining the environmental and climate policy aspirations of the current EU agricultural policy and addressing the concerns of agricultural producers.
It allows Member States to grant temporary and targeted derogations to the requirements for good agricultural and environmental status
from certain cross-compliance requirements in the event of unforeseen climatic conditions that prevent farmers from fulfilling them.
EU farmers will not be obliged to leave a certain part of their arable land fallow.
They can voluntarily decide to leave part of their arable land fallow or to plant new crops on it. At the same time, it encourages farmers to maintain non-productive areas that are beneficial for biodiversity. In addition to crop rotation, it also enables diversification of crop production for farmers with areas affected by regular drought or excessive rainfall to more easily meet the requirement.
Member States may exempt certain crops, soil types or farming systems from compliance with tillage requirements.
Their scope must be limited and they can only be created if they are necessary to solve specific problems. The revision exempts farms operating on an area of less than 10 hectares from checks and sanctions related to compliance with conditionality requirements, which reduces the administrative burden for small producers, 65 percent of the CAP beneficiaries.
The revision ensures that EU countries can amend their CAP strategic plans twice a year, as opposed to the current once-only option. This gives Member States more flexibility to deal with changing conditions.
The revision must still be officially accepted by the EU Council, which brings together the governments of the member states. In case of its final adoption and after its announcement, the decree will enter into force immediately.
MTI
Cover image: Italian farmers demonstrating against the agricultural policy of the European Union demonstrate with the symbolic coffin of agriculture along the Nomentana Consular highway, near Rome
Source: MTI/EPA-ANSA/Claudio Peri
