The European Commission is seeking to exempt small agricultural holdings—those under 10 hectares—from certain environmental controls and sanctions tied to access to funding under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This proposal aims to ease the regulatory burden on farms and was disclosed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a phone call with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, ahead of the formal presentation of the plan.
The central aim of the legislative package is to reduce administrative workload for EU farmers and grant producers and member states greater flexibility to meet specific environmental conditionalities. This context was conveyed by von der Leyen to the Polish leader, underscoring the intention to streamline processes without compromising core environmental commitments.
Nevertheless, the Commission stresses that the proposed exemptions will not erode the overall ambition of the EU’s environmental and climate protection targets within the agricultural policy. The gesture of solidarity with the sector accompanies other steps the executive has taken to ease environmental requirements linked to CAP funding. These measures were announced at the end of February as protests in farming communities grew, just three months before the European elections.
The Conditions
To secure CAP support, eligible farmers would still need to comply with an enhanced set of nine environmental and climate-friendly rules, known as BCAM. This conditionality framework covers roughly 90 percent of the arable area used in the EU and plays a critical role in integrating sustainable farming practices across the union.
According to data from the European Commission, exempting smallholders from the obligations tied to these rules would significantly lighten daily farm tasks for many producers. The group represents about 65 percent of CAP beneficiaries, while the environmental ambitions would remain intact because the rules as a whole cover only around 9.6 percent of the hectares receiving CAP aid.