Slow Food Europe supports the Appeal to the Commission over Misalignment of the CAP Reform and the Green Deal

Slow Food Europe supports environmental lawyers at ClientEarth, who have warned the European Commission that its failure to align the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform proposal with new climate, environment, and biodiversity commitments under the European Green Deal may be illegal.

Photo by Clay LeConey on Unsplash

ClientEarth says that the CAP reform proposal, with its current lack of binding targets “is likely to neutralize the potential power” of new  Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies, and is, therefore “set to undermine the European Green Deal at large.” At the beginning of this year, the European Parliament asked the Commission to analyze the current CAP reform proposal and fully align it to the goals set in the European Green Deal. 

Slow Food Europe supports ClientEarth’s claim and calls for urgent amendments in the CAP reform, which has been heavily criticized by civil society and the scientific community. The European Court of Auditors, one of the EU official bodies, in its report recognized that the Commission “falls short of the EU’s ambitions for a greener and more robust performance-based approach”, saying that a new reform lacks clearly quantified climate and environmental targets. Meanwhile, European scientists in their recent letter to the European Commission urged the Commission to drastically improve in order not to further damage the environment. 

As pointed out by ClientEarth the recent update to the CAP prompted by COVID-19 shows that the Commission can act with speed and clarity when it recognizes urgency. Slow Food Europe calls on the Commission and all bodies involved to set strict and binding targets in the CAP national strategic plans, and to introduce necessary amendments in order to realign the CAP reform with ambitious goals set in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies. 

The CAP reform, which accounts for about 35% of EU budget, was put on the legislative agenda by the former Commission in June 2018 and is still in its proposal phase. This means the current Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has inherited a proposal that now conflicts with its political mandate and its own policies – specifically the climate, environmental and biodiversity goals enshrined in the European Green Deal, as detailed in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies.

More information:

The Good Food Good Farming Demands to change the future of CAP for: nature and biodiversity, resilient food systems and agroecology, climate and environment, animal welfare and human health, sustainable small-scale farming and new entrants.

Slow Food’s evaluation of the Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategies, here

Everything you need to know about the Biodiversity Strategy, here

Everything you need to know about the Farm to Fork Strategy, here

Slow Food’s review of the new CAP reform, here.