A ” ditch “. The European Court of Auditors does not mince its words when describing the gap between the common agricultural policy (CAP) and the objectives of the green climate deal. At a time when the Green Deal, the flagship policy of the European Union (EU) to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, risks being weakened by the wind of conservatism blowing across European institutions, the European Court of Auditors has analyzed, in a report published Monday September 30how the first EU budget was redistributed (58 billion euros paid each year, including 9 billion for France). The last framework, negotiated for the period 2023-2027, is supposed to accelerate transformations in the agricultural sector in the face of the climate crisis.
The CAP 2023-2027 notably introduced a major novelty by leaving more latitude to Member States to define their own rules for paying certain aid. It is precisely these “national strategic plans” (PSN) that the European Court of Auditors analyzed, observing that if these national plans, updated every year, must be approved by the European Commission, the latter does not precisely measure their level. of ecological ambition.
However, according to the auditors, these plans are not in line with the objectives of the green pact and the only quantified contribution which appears in the PSN, the increase in areas cultivated in organic agriculture, is far from being achieved. At the European level, the “From farm to fork” strategy, adopted in 2021, set a target of 25% of organic surfaces by 2030, compared to 10.5% in 2022, with a further rate of growth. much too slow and very disparate depending on the State (in France, the rate is 10.1%).
Unraveling CAP environmental rules
The Court looked more specifically at the strategic plans of four agricultural producing countries: Spain, France, Ireland and Poland. However, she notes, certain States have set rules for the payment of voluntarily generous aid, so that as many farmers as possible can benefit from it, without trying to change their practices.
This is why in Ireland, 91% of farmers are eligible for the eco-scheme, the main green payment instrument introduced in the new CAP, supposed to reward practices beneficial to the climate, biodiversity and animal welfare. In France, the proportion of farmers eligible for this payment has even been estimated at 99.9%.
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Source: Lemonde
