Civil Society Organisations Demand Open and Ambitious Approval of CAP Plans

A joint letter on the development and approval of the National Strategic Plans for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with shared opinions and recommendations from various EU civil society organizations, was sent to the European Commission (EC). The letter calls for specific actions to establish an open and ambitious procedure in terms of policy coherence, transparency and stakeholder engagement. STEP experts also support the letter.

According to Federica Luoni, (Cambiamo Agricoltura, Italy), quoted by the website arc2020.bg, this letter is important for all CAP stakeholders across the EU, but particularly relevant for the Italian CAP plan.

“We are approaching the submission deadline, and there hasn’t been any effective and structured series of consultations in Italy, except for some sporadic events. The preparation is very disappointing from the governance, technical, and democratic point of views. Although Italy could have set better consultations and technical working groups much earlier, we are now concerned that the plan will be approved by the Commission without properly examining the various elements of a fairer and greener CAP, nor how the regional interventions for rural development will fit together in a logic of result-based delivery model. There is no justification to continue until 2027 with a business-as-usual plan for food, agriculture, biodiversity and rural development in Italy.”

See the full letter here.

The design and approval of the future 27 CAP Strategic Plans are key moments to demonstrate the true commitment towards a fairer, greener, and rural-proofed CAP reform. The submission of the National Strategic Plans is scheduled for the end of 2021. The European Commission should then assess whether these reform proposals are in line with the ambitions of the CAP, the Green Deal and the long-term vision for rural areas.

Earlier, in May, DG AGRI has published the general approach to assess and approve the plans:

Assessment on the basis of robust and fair criteria provided in the legislation;
Strategic Plans will be approved by EC based on the well-rooted governance of the CAP;
Commission will inform MS on how it envisages assessing CAP plans.

More information about the method of assessment and approval see here: https://enrd.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ddg_dumitru.pdf

However three key details remain unclear:

The way of working with others Directorate Generals like DG SANTE, ENV, CLIMA or the Commissioner for Democracy and Demography for the rural proofing[2];
The interactions among other stakeholders than agricultural ministries and agri-business farmers unions, such as farmers, agro-ecologists, public authorities, civil society organisations, researchers and citizens, consultants for external support (e.g. assessment support for DG ENV or the future CAP networks).
The procedural steps and structure of the various Commission’s assessment tools to screen the draft plans, particularly for the involvement of stakeholders in the tools’ design and application.