One of the success stories in the evolution of CAP reform has been the change from supporting the product to supporting the producer by moving, first, from market price support to coupled payments, and then by decoupling these payments.
The 2013 CAP reform has reversed this process. Coupled aids have started to grow again, from a projected €2.7 billion in 2014 to a projected €4.8 billion in 2015, an increase of nearly 75%. Their share of total direct payments will rise from 6.7% in 2014 to 11.6% in 2015. This step backwards was one of the negative outcomes of the recent CAP reform. The limited data available raise the question whether the new coupled payments fully comply with the criteria set out in the new direct payments regulation.
Coupled payments in successive CAP reforms
The decoupling of CAP direct payments started in the 2003 Fischler reform (implemented from 2005), continued with the subsequent reforms of individual commodity regimes and reached its high point in the 2008 Fischer Boel Health Check.… Read the rest
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