The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has sharply criticized the EU Commission’s reform proposal for a new agricultural policy after 2020. The proposal was not in line with the EU’s objectives for greener and more performance-based support for agriculture, the Luxembourg authority said in a report published today in Brussels.
At the beginning of June, the Commission presented its plans for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from 2020 onwards. The EU auditors criticized that this proposal would make little difference: in fact, the reform proposal is in many ways in line with the current CAP provisions.
Contribution to climate protection goals „unrealistic“
For example, the Commission proposes to continue distributing the majority in the form of direct payments to farmers. „However, this instrument is unsuitable for solving many environmental problems and at the same time is not the most efficient way to guarantee a living wage (from farmers),“ the auditors said.
Moreover, the fact that environmental and climate objectives in the CAP should have a high priority from 2020 – as announced by the Commission – is not apparent. „The Commission’s estimate of the contribution of the CAP to EU climate change targets seems unrealistic,“ the report said.
