The European Parliament will continue to seek the full flattening of farm payments in the next CAP, according to its chief negotiator in ongoing reforms.

Achieving full internal convergence was not a bad objective for the next CAP, chair of the Parliament’s agriculture committee Norbert Lins told an Irish Farmers Journal webinar.

The policy of convergence has been extremely divisive since it was first introduced in 2015.

The German MEP hinted at the possibility of flexibility for member states to deal with specific situations.

“This is part of the negotiations between Parliament and Council [of Ministers] - how we can find a way out for specific situations in specific member states like Ireland,” Lins said.

“I can tell you we have more or less the same situation with Austria.

“This is not a question of wet and peatlands or density, but it’s a question of mountainous areas.

“More or less Austria has the same question to the European level to have a bit more flexibility there.”

Flexibilities

Lins did not offer further details as to whether the flexibilities would be on a regional or sectoral basis, as he said negotiations around the issue were still ongoing.

However, he insisted that further convergence was necessary, as basing payments on historical figures was "not fair".

Fine Gael MEP Colm Markey does not agree with the push for full flattening in the next CAP.

Convergence

“Convergence is one thing, we’re already on that road and it’s very hard to stop that, but we need to give people time to adapt,” he said.

The most vulnerable sectors and the most vulnerable farmers needed to be supported and sustained, Makrey said.

“The idea of going to 100% convergence over this CAP, quite frankly, I think is too much to ask. Seventy-five percent to 85% should be where it’s at in my book.”

Lins offered front-loading as another potential solution.

He said 12% of the Germany's €5bn CAP budget, equating to €600m, would be used to top-up smaller farmers’ payment per hectare.

“Maybe that’s not an option for Ireland, but it’s an idea to be fairer and to help small scale farmers.”