Presentation at Berlin Agrarkongress, 15-01-2019

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Last chance to reform the CAP
Putting society at the centre
15 January 2019
Celine Charveriat, Executive director, IEEP

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Just a word about the Institute of
European Environmental Policies (IEEP)
• More than 40 years old
• Independent, evidence based
• Sustainability think tank
• Committed to advancing impact-driven sustainability policy across the EU
and the world
• Work with stakeholders across EU institutions, international bodies,
academia, civil society and industry

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IEEP: Science-Policy Solutions

4. Why is change needed?
*The status quo is no longer an option*
• Environmental and climate challenges remain critical-
> science is unequivocal
• Greater ambition in tackling these challenges is
imperative or we risk undermining the long term
viability of agricultural and forest systems
• A healthy environment makes a fundamental
contribution to vibrant rural areas (economically and
socially)
• Member States have not demonstrated a good track
record in using existing CAP flexibilities to deliver
environmental/climate outcomes
• + new international and climate commitments since
last reform (COP21 and SDGs)
• + increasing demand for change from consumers

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Some lessons from
the current CAP
 Flexibility & lack of
specificity of objectives
often lead to choices that
maintain status quo – e.g.
greening
 Rural Development
measures are critical to
address environmental
priorities - must be
adequately funded
 Effective implementation requires
clear targeting, advice, monitoring
and review
 A coherent approach to
environmental delivery across Pillar 1
and Pillar 2 is essential
(targeting/timeframe/silos)
 Stakeholders must be engaged in
policy design, implementation and
review

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The Commission’s Proposals for the CAP
• Shift the focus of payments and support away from compliance
with detailed rules set at the EU level, towards a focus on
performance
• Rebalance responsibilities between EU and Member States
* CAP Strategic Plans *

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The Commission’s Proposals for the CAP
- Strategic approach to the whole CAP
(pillar 1 and pillar 2)
- Results oriented
- Needs assessment underpinning the
strategic plans
- New environmental tool in pillar 1:
Ecoscheme
- Possibility to shift 30% of pillar 1
money to pillar 2
- Legal requirement for the
authorities competent for
environment and climate to be
involved in the drafting of the
strategic plans
- Bigger budget cut in Pillar 2/Pillar 1
- No ring fencing for the environment
in Pillar 1
- Flexibility risks low ambition
- CAP specific objectives are not clearly
linked to EU legislation – risks vague
targets being set by MSs and generic
schemes developed
- Environmental stakeholders are not
listed as partners that must be
consulted
- Consultation of civil society not part
of the approval process
- Indicators not sufficiently specific to
demonstrate quality of results

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The next steps
• European Parliament and Council now working on the texts
• Over 6000 Amendments from the European Parliament -> many
of which aiming at reducing further the level of environmental
ambition
• Vote in the responsible committee in the European Parliament in
March but unlikely to have a plenary before the elections
• The European Council made progress under the Austrian
Presidency -> progress report sent to the Romanian Presidency
…. Overall direction of travel is worrying and lack of clarity vis-a
vis the future Parliament etc….

9. What will it take (1)?
 Political will: MSs need to embrace the
new performance-based approach and
tailored their CAP support according to
their priorities and needs.
CAP Proposals provide many
opportunities to enhance
environmental and climate ambition
BUT so far there are not enough
provisions to ensure accountability
and no ‘race to the bottom’

10. What will it take (2)?
 Capacity
 Ring-fenced funding for environment
 Right scope/coverage
 Quality data and robust M&E including
SMART objectives and indicators
 Capacity building for national authorities
 Participation and accountability:
 Serious transparency, inclusiveness and
participatory approach with civil society
 Credible dialogue with environmental
ministries
 Rigorous approval and review process at
EU level

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What will it take (3): Think beyond the CAP,
Think 2030
• Agriculture policy is a tool to achieve Europe’s ambitions, not an end in and of
itself.
• Part of a holistic plan for sustainable consumption in Europe (80% reduction in
material footprint by 2050) and comprehensive health policy (pollution free
environment, geared to improved life expectancy and quality of life)
• Keeping the food system within planetary boundaries requires:
- changing consumption patterns / dietary preferences, eliminating food
wastes and losses, and transforming agricultural production systems
- a new contract between farmers and society (remunerative farm gate
prices+ reward for public good provision)
- appropriate governance mechanisms
- demand management e.g. new approaches for pricing agricultural goods
(retail price of food internalising true cost of sustainability).
• More on the think 2030 webpage

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For further information contact:
Faustine Bas-Defossez (fbas-defossez@ieep.eu)

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References:
- Evaluation study of the payment for agricultural practices beneficial for climate and the environment, IEEP, Oreade
Breche - https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/sites/agriculture/files/fullrep_en.pdf
- Hart K and Bas-Defossez F (2018) CAP 2021-27: Proposals for increasing its environmental and climate ambition,
report for NABU by IEEP - https://ieep.eu/uploads/articles/attachments/63db952e-0825-4eb8-80fe-
f88708cfd62f/NABU%20CAP%20Report%20-%20FINAL%20.pdf?v=63710723894
- Bas-Defossez F, Allen B, Weigelt J, Marechal A, Meredith S and Lorant A (2018) Feeding Europe: Agriculture, and
sustainable food systems, Policy Paper produced for the IEEP Think2030 conference, Brussels, October 2018-
https://ieep.eu/uploads/articles/attachments/64e06bc1-6c2e-4b94-bc93-
9150725093ac/Think%202030%20Feeding%20Europe.pdf?v=63710011359
- SOER 2015 — The European environment — state and outlook 2015