MEP for Ireland South Seán Kelly has been appointed rapporteur for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the European Parliament’s Environment Committee. 

Kelly’s new role as rapporteur will see him author the European Parliament's position on the climate, environmental, food safety and animal welfare priorities and conditions for implementation included in the EU’s next major farm policy, which covers the period from 2028 to 2034. 

Following his appointment, Kelly highlighted the "critical importance" of making the implementation of the new CAP work for farmers and ensuring they are properly paid for the important environmental work they carry out daily. 

“We must deliver a new CAP that is structured in a way that properly rewards and incentivises farmers to deliver environmental actions," he said.

"My priorities here can be summed up in two words: simplicity and viability.

"Farmers must be properly remunerated for the work they do every day to produce food of the highest quality and to help us meet climate objectives, and we must avoid saddling them with needless bureaucracy and red tape."

Negotiations to be challenging

He said that environmental schemes need to provide "more attractive payments" to farmers than they have to date, and a "real additional income source that truly supports the long-term viability of the family farm model".

"If we are serious about delivering climate and biodiversity, then we need to fairly remunerate those that we are asking to deliver it," Kelly added.

Negotiations are set to be challenging in the parliament’s Environment Committee, which has traditionally tended to push for more environmentally ambitious CAPs than the Agriculture Committee, according to Kelly.

He said he believes a "balanced agreement can be reached", but has urged his counterparts to "fully consider the real-world impact of the policy ahead of the discussions". 

“We have seen in previous iterations of the CAP that colleagues in the Environment Committee have pushed for more stringent obligations to be put on farmers," the MEP continued.

"I will be firmly on the side of our farmers in these negotiations, and I will fight for a set of environmental priorities that are deliverable, bring real value to rural communities, and come with the right financial incentives."

Amendments

Kelly said he welcomes the signaled intention this week from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to amend the overall budget proposal in response to concerns raised by MEPs in the European Parliament in recent months.

“I have major concerns about the commission's proposal to move away from the two pillar CAP structure we are all familiar with," Kelly said.

"We cannot see CAP dissolved into a single fund and re-nationalised.

"Farmers need a dedicated, inflation-proof budget that is committed to securing the viability of European agriculture, and with a dedicated budget line. 

“While not perfect, I welcome the commission president’s intention to revisit the proposal, and to introduce specific targets on agriculture spend to safeguard the budget available to our farmers."