The CAP under Fire
The Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, is ready to push back in the EU Council of Agriculture on February 26 to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). He argues that the new CAP makes life harder for farmers and triggers widespread sector protests. He calls on the European Union to cut the administrative burden faced by farmers and ranchers. Planas has sent letters to the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, and to Belgian ministers holding the rotating EU presidency, thanking them for asking member states to propose ways to reduce red tape. He acknowledges that the CAP 2023-2027 marks a significant shift in approach, but he adds that the first year of implementation shows this new model not only fails to simplify processes but actually increases the administrative load substantially.
The minister uses these exchanges to convey his deep concern about ongoing protests among farmers in Spain, saying they should prompt reflection at all levels. He views the new CAP as one of the main sources of discontent, arguing that it adds substantial complexity and imposes requirements that hinder proper agricultural activity. Planas demands a rapid, decisive response to the situation.
Specifically, the Spanish proposals to be debated at the EU Council meeting on February 26 emphasize granting more “flexibility” within the reinforced conditionality framework. This refers to the set of obligations farmers and ranchers must meet to avoid losing subsidies. The aim is to ease the burden while maintaining essential guarantees for support payments.
A Focus on Small-Scale Farmers
Plan a s highlights that any simplification should prioritize small farmers, as was the case with the previous CAP. The plan calls for dropping new requirements for producers and administrations related to geo-tagged photo verification or certain controls. Notably, the proposals propose raising the threshold used to define a small farmer from the current 1,250 euros in subsidies to 5,000 euros, according to the documents provided by the Ministry of Agriculture.
He also urges a substantial simplification of obligations, such as the evaluation of the integrated management and control system and the annual performance report, and he seeks greater flexibility for sectoral interventions that often fail to fit multi-year planning needs.