After the December 2012 Council proposed amendments, the vote of the agricultural committee of the European Parliament (COMAGRI) on January 24 2013 de facto kills any hope of deriving serious biodiversity benefit from the CAP reform. The COMAGRI amendments are particularly fatal to the Ecological Focus Area (EFA) measure, which is now nearly ‘as dead as a dodo’. The fact that the COMAGRI amendments largely restate the Agricultural Council’s draft position on the EFA leaves little hope for future debates between the Parliament and the Council. The conclusions of the European Council on February 8, 2013 can be seen as the burial of the EFA.
Many economists and think tanks doubted that the combination of Pillar 1 payments and green requirements was the most cost-efficient way to promote biodiversity and were not enthusiastic about the EFA idea. It is now time for them to realize that while Pillar 2 payments will be cut, Pillar 1 payments will be maintained but without any serious biodiversity requirement.… Read the rest
Europe's common agricultural policy is broken – let's fix it!