Direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for farmers receiving a pension could be spared under the latest version of the CAP proposals.

In the initial plans put forward by the European Commission in summer 2025, farmers who were receiving a pension would, by 2032 at the latest, lose their direct payments.

This proposal received considerable criticism from farm organisations, government figures, and politicians across the EU.

Agriland reported in late September that member states in the Council of the EU - which, along with the European Parliament, can amend the commission's proposals - were exploring the possibility of giving member states the option of stopping direct payments for pensioners.

It would not, in that case, be mandatory for member states to do so, as is the case in the commission's original proposals.

An opinion drafted by member states and announced earlier this week has confirmed that the optional approach is the direction of travel for member states.

This document, seen by Agriland, deletes the paragraph in the draft legal text requiring member states to stop direct payments to pensioners.

It inserts a new paragraph that was not part of the commission's proposal, which states that, for CAP interventions, member states "may decide that applicants who reach the retirement age, determined by national law, and who receive a retirement pension, are no longer eligible to receive support under those interventions".

The member states' opinion on CAP also stresses that, where member states do decide to stop payments to pensioners, that this should be subject to certain conditions.

Th document states: "Member states that make use of this possibility shall ensure compliance with the principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination and shall justify it under the objectives of better targeting of the income support or generational renewal."

However, the structure of this document in terms of the placement of paragraphs and articles - and the fact that the Council of the EU has already confirmed that its CAP proposal would scrap the two-pillar structure - would indicate that if a member state did decide to stop payments to pensioners, other payments (not just direct area-based payments) may be impacted.