The website VoteWatch Europe monitors the voting of MEPs on each resolution and piece of legislation. It published the following commentary on the CAP reform voting earlier this month (thanks to Xavier Pavard @xpavard on Twitter for drawing attention to this source) which I reproduce here.
(Note: Right click on the images below and select Show picture to get clearer view of the graphics)
Centre-right wins battle over CAP reform; net contributor country MEPs outvoted
MEPs voted on a package of four legislative proposals that make up the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The subject was hotly debated, as CAP currently accounts for close to 40% of the EU budget. CAP is to be reformed with effect from 1 January 2014. To ensure better targeting of aid, the proposal gives Member States the responsibility for defining what constitutes an “active farmer”.
Other provisions are that no Member State’s farmers should receive less than 65% of the EU average, that young farmers should get a 25% top-up payment for a maximum of 100 ha and that direct payments to any one farm should be capped at €300,000.
The most closely fought issue was the regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products, which was pushed through by a narrow majority of EPP and S&D MEPs:
Within the EPP, the Swedish delegation and a third of the German delegation voted “against:
In the S&D the opposition came from the German, British, Swedish, Danish, Dutch and Austrian delegations (all from countries which are net contributors to the EU budget):
Click here to see how each MEP voted.
Amendment 406 by the ALDE group, which proposed to eliminate export refunds and which was also supported by the Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL groups and a minority of S&D Members (from UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Austria) was voted down by a coalition of EPP, ECR and a majority of S&D MEPs. Click here to see how each MEP voted.
In another key vote, amendment 90 called for the phasing out of a number of sectorial measures, including on milk quotas, sugar quotas and other sugar measures and of certain state aids. This amendment was voted down by MEPs in the EPP (except for Swedish, Dutch and several Germans) and S&D groups (except for German, Swedish, Danish and Dutch Members). Click here to see how each MEP voted on amendment 90.
This commentary was published by VoteWatch Europe and is reproduced under the terms of its Creative Commons licence.
