This post is written jointly with Dr. Norbert Röder of the Thünen Institute Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries.
Eco-schemes (schemes for the environment and climate) are the main innovation in the green architecture of the CAP proposed by the Commission in its draft CAP Strategic Plan Regulation in June 2018. As mandatory instruments, they would oblige Member States to allocate a proportion of their Pillar 1 payments to schemes that would directly benefit the environment and climate. Participation would be limited to genuine farmers but would be voluntary for them.
Both the Council and Parliament have proposed amendments to the Commission’s original proposal. On the one hand, the amendments would ring-fence a minimum budget for eco-schemes at 20% (the Council) or 30% (the Parliament) of Pillar 1 national envelopes for direct payments. On the other hand, the amendments would greatly enlarge the scope of eco-schemes. Under the Commission’s proposal, these are to be used to achieve the CAP specific goals (d), (e) and (f) related to climate and environment.… Read the rest