On 1 June 2018, the Commission presented a single legal proposal for the future CAP: “Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing rules on support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the Common agricultural policy (CAP Strategic Plans) and financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
The new Proposal, set out in the Communication on the Future of Food and Farming November 2017, emphasised simplification, targeted action and more flexibility for Member States (MS) to adjust funding under the CAP. The impetus for revising the CAP was given by the argument that the former CAP delivery system relied on detailed requirements at the EU level and had overly prescriptive rules that were not always suitable for delivering the desired results and EU-added value. To this end, the CAP proposal called for MS to develop a single CAP Strategic Plan (with room for regional plans) that covered both direct payments (Pillar 1) and rural development payments (Pillar 2).
The proposal introduced several new elements, e.g. the eco-schemes and sectoral interventions under Pillar 1, and streamlined the measures under rural development interventions. A detailed analysis of each element is presented in the table below. This document presents an initial assessment of the CAP proposal in terms of its contribution to protecting water resources and promoting adaptation to climate change. The document is split into three sections: 1) a summary highlighting the budgetary changes and brief conclusions on how the CAP proposal addresses environmental objectives in general, water management and adaptation to climate change in particular; 2) a brief summary of the ongoing discussions in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council; and 3) an analysis of the CAP proposal per article.
The full text can be found here.