CAP reform must safeguard EU farmers' incomes and food security, say regions and cities

​​​​​​Regional and local leaders shared with EU Commissioner Wojciechowski their call for fairer direct payments, market regulation, and tailored responses to regional and environmental challenges. ​

Local and regional leaders have endorsed a clear stance on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) sharing the proposals included in an opinion led by co-rapporteurs Isilda Gomes (PT/PES) and Piotr Calbecki (PL/EPP), adopted during the June plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), following a debate with Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for agriculture. The future of European agriculture has been a major political issue across the EU in recent months, with farmers staging significant protests in response to a variety of issues affecting the agricultural sector, including environmental regulations, rising costs, and trade policies. 

The future of agriculture was at the heart of the European elections campaign, in response to the increasing mistrust of rural communities. During the debate, members of the CoR urged the future Commission to transform the CAP into an agricultural policy that is fair, sustainable and based on solidarity for the benefit of farmers, regions, consumers and citizens. They advocated for sustained EU funding to meet the various challenges faced by the agricultural sector as well as rural areas and for a more regionalised CAP. 

In the opinion, regions and cities emphasise that a fair redistribution of direct payments for farmers is crucial in order to maintain agricultural activity in all geographical areas, slow down rural depopulation and the abandonment of land, and to tackle long-term challenges, such as maintaining jobs in remote rural areas and supporting sectors and farming practices that sustain livelihoods and landscapes. They also propose that aid per hectare be shifted to aid based on the labour intensity of farms and on compliance with environmental and social conditions, in order to avoid the desertification of rural areas and to better support small and medium-sized farms. 

The CAP should support mitigation and adaptation to climate change and the fight against the sources of environmental pollution, with farmers being supported in the transition to sustainable farming. 

Moreover, in order to improve and stabilise farmers' revenues, the CoR calls for stronger market regulation, both internally and internationally. Farmers need fair and stable prices, which cannot be achieved without market regulation, strategic replenishment of stock, efforts to tackle unfair commercial practices, and mirror clauses in the past and future European trade agreements. The CAP must ensure that EU citizens have access to safe and ample food supplies, while safeguarding production capacity and consumer markets. 

Finally, regional and local representatives call for regions to play a prominent role in the governance of the CAP, to better target interventions based on the specificities of the territories.   

Quotes: 

Vasco Alves Cordeiro, President of the European Committee of the Regions: “Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy is a necessary step to accompany EU farmers towards fairer income and along the ecological transition. We should stress that addressing the climate crisis is a way to defend farmers' wages and the competitiveness of European agriculture. At the same time, we know that there is no just or sustainable transition if EU policies do not consider the great territorial diversity of our regions, including the outermost ones. This is why the European Committee of the Regions calls for a deeper involvement of local and regional authorities in the management of the CAP." 

Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for agriculture: "Our recent challenges have reinforced what we need in our food system: security in the supply of safe, healthy, nutritious products; stability in the livelihoods of our farmers and rural communities; sustainability for our climate, biodiversity and natural resources; and solidarity, with our farmers, but also with our international partners. The future of our CAP must be built around these principles – security, stability, sustainability, and solidarity. I am happy to discuss these principles at the plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions – every region has a stake in the future of agriculture, so every region must have a say in its direction." 

Isilda Gomes (PT/PES), newly elected Member of the European Parliament: “We must avoid the trap set by those who want to undermine the Green Deal: our proposals for CAP reform will allow regions to better support farmers who have to make their farms more sustainable and more resilient to climate change. Together with more comprehensive market regulation, this allows the EU to ensure farmers get a fair price for their work and can provide healthy products for European consumers." 

Piotr Całbecki (PL/EPP), president of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region: “Our opinion addresses the needs of farmers from across EU regions and takes into account the functioning of family-owned, small, and medium-sized farms, the role of cohesion funds for the development of rural areas and the involvement of the representatives of European farmers and local and regional authorities in the reform of CAP. I am glad that we managed to develop an opinion beyond political divisions thanks to the active participation of a vast number of stakeholders and meetings with hundreds of farmers. The newly elected members of the European Parliament will receive our opinion immediately after their appointment, to seek support for our recommendations on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy." 

More information:  

• European Commission President von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union speech in September 2023 to launch a Strategic Dialogue on the future of agriculture. The Dialogue was launched on 25 January 2024 with the active participation of 29 stakeholders coordinated under the chairmanship of Professor Peter Strohschneider. The last meeting is scheduled for 9-10 July 2024. The report will be prepared for September. The legislative proposal on the CAP after 2027 expected in 2025 should take on board the recommendations from the dialogue. The Chair of the Strategic Dialogue, Professor Peter Strohschneider, was invited to the meeting of the CoR's commission for natural resources (NAT) on 14 June to share with local and regional representatives the state of play of the ongoing discussions within the Dialogue. More info. 
• The second report of the REGHUB consultation on the regional implementation of the CAP strategic plan was also presented during the last NAT meeting. It focuses on the experiences of regions in the implementation and evaluation of the CAP strategic plans. The results of the first phase addressing the contribution of regions to the drafting of the strategic plans were shared during a joint hearing with the European Parliament's AGRI Committee on 26 October 2023. The third phase, which will be launched by the end of 2024, will evaluate the added value of regional measures in the strategic plans.  
• On 22 March 2024, the NAT commission organised a debate on European agricultural policies with Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture; Marion Picot, Secretary-General of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA); Juliette Jacques, Co-Chair of the Fooddrink EU Expert Group on Agriculture and Deputy Managing Director at Starch Europe; and Christel Delberghe, Director-General of EuroCommerce.  
• CAP Strategic Plans 2023- 2027. 
• Video: The future of European agriculture – European regions are already paving the way!  Can be downloaded here.  

Contact:  
Hélène Dressen  
Tel. +32 473 33 25 08 
helene.dressen@cor.europa.eu