This report provides an assessment of the CAP Strategic Plans for seven EU Member States (Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Malta, Poland, Spain and Sweden) compiling analysis carried out by Friends of the Earth Europe’s national member
organisations.
It focuses on the Plans’ likely contribution to the agriculture related targets of the European Green Deal, in particular the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies, along with the likely impact on small-scale farmers and producers,
and fair working conditions for farm workers.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is a powerful piece of legislation that has the potential to make or break the goals of the European Union’s flagship Green Deal and its Farm to Fork Strategy. The new CAP, which will start operating in 2023, has been described by the European Commission as being “fairer and greener”. While it does integrate some green rhetoric and environmental and social measures, it remains a missed opportunity to support a transition towards more sustainable food production models. The new measures are riddled with loopholes and will continue to reward farmers mostly based on how large their fields are and not on how they act for the climate and biodiversity.
Member States now have the responsibility to create national CAP Strategic Plans that go further than the weak CAP commitments, and use the funds available to subsidise measures that meet the EU Green Deal targets.
