MEPs on the European Parliament's agriculture committee are set to push for mandatory frontloading of 15% of Pillar I payments in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

German MEP Norbert Lins, who is spearheading the committee's work on the CAP post-2027, formally published his report on the future CAP today (Monday, June 29).

This report is set to become the committee's position on the next CAP, and will therefore form the basis of the parliament's position as a whole as it negotiates the next CAP with the EU member states.

Much of the key detail in the report has already come to light, but the publication today (Monday, June 29) provides some facts and figures that were not yet finalised.

Lins' proposals differ from the European Commission's proposals on the next CAP - which were published last summer - in several important ways, while sharing notable similarities with the current CAP.

The German MEP's amendments to the commission's proposals are divided into seven core areas, namely: budget; capping and redistribution; young farmers; rejecting the cutting of Pillar I funds for pensioners; a common percentage funding for environmental and climate measures; common standards on 'Farm Stewardship'; and risk management.

Lins said the budget aspect of his report is based on the April report on the next long-term EU budget - the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - which calls for a 2028-2034 CAP of €433 billion, compared to a commission proposal of €290 billion.

The report also calls for retaining the traditional two-pillar structure of the CAP - which is in danger of being removed under the commission's proposals - and also for retaining the LEADER programme for rural development.

On capping and redistribution, the report would increase the upper limit on payments to natural persons from €100,000 in the commission proposal to €500,000.

It also proposes to remove the degressive reduction of overall payments; instead, smaller farms will, under Lins' plan, benefit from frontloading of payments on the first hectares, with 15% of the total Pillar I envelope set aside for this measure.

This would be mandatory for member states, although member states would decide the per-hectare rate of redistributive payment, as well as the maximum number of hectares on which the payment should apply.

This would be similar to arrangements in the current CAP, although it would increase the amount available for frontloading from 10% of Pillar I funds to 15%.

The report would also boost the amount of money ringfenced for young farmer from 6% in the commission's proposals (and from 3% in the current CAP) to 8%, and make that ringfencing mandatory for member states.

As mentioned above, the parliament's agriculture committee will call for the commission's proposal to exclude those in receipt of a pension from Pillar I funds to be removed from consideration.

Environment

The next two elements of Lins's report deal with environment and related actions.

The report calls for defined "earmarking" for rewarding environmental, climate and animal welfare services provided by farmers.

This is not a feature of the commission's proposal; and Lins claimed that the commission's version "would lead to a distortion of the market and distortion of competitiveness of farmers" across the EU without some common features for environmental expectations.

However, Lins' report did not outline a percentage rate of funding for environment, climate and animal welfare actions, and instead proposed to leave the decision on this to the wider EU budget negotiations.

On the proposed 'farm stewardship' model, which is a new form of conditionality proposed by the commission, Lins wants to see less flexibility for member states, so that farmers across the EU are operating under similar standards.

Lins said: "When it comes to competitiveness of the farmers, the so-called level playing field within the EU, I think there needs to be a clear catalogue of measures."

He said he is in favour of limiting the possibility for member states to set up their own conditionality.

The final element is on strengthening risk mitigation and investments for irrigation, which is of importance for farmers in climates prone to prolonged spells of dry weather and drought.

Speaking to journalists before presenting his report today, Lins said: "So all in all, in my draft report, I changed a lot when you compare it with the original commission proposal. There is much more commonality in the CAP.

"There are a lot of mandatory things, where there is more or less no free lunch anymore for member states. I want to continue with a real Common Agricultural Policy for the EU and for the farming sector with the EU," he added.

Commenting after presenting the report to the agriculture committee today, Lins added: "Europe needs a stable, predictable agricultural policy that gives farmers long-term certainty and frees excessive red tape.

"Only with an independent and reliable CAP can we safeguard the future of our rural areas and the supply of high-quality food," he said.

"We should keep what already works, not reinvent it. Proven tools must be strengthened, such as redistributive income support to specifically strengthen small and medium-sized farms," the German MEP added.