The Committee's report on the future of food and farming will be the European Parliament's first response to the plans European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan outlined last November for CAP after 2020.

The draft version under discussion between MEPs "calls for the existing system for calculating direct payments in pillar I, which is often based on historic entitlements, to be replaced by an EU-wide uniform method of calculating payments, in order to make the system simpler and more transparent".

Such convergence of payments was discussed in preparation for the current CAP, but there was no general agreement, with member states free to decide how fast they want to reduce the gap between various levels of existing direct payments.

'Fairer'

The draft European Parliament resolution states that "there is a need for an updated and fairer system of payments, as in many member states the current system of entitlements is based on historic benchmarks which are now almost 20 years old and which constitute an obstacle to generational renewal and hinder young farmers’ access to farmland, as new entrants do not possess entitlements and are thus at a disadvantage".

Only some countries that joined the EU since 2004 use such a system, under transitional rules, setting the same level of payment per hectare for all farmers in each country without entitlements.

MEPs have tabled numerous amendments to the draft report and it may change before the European Parliament adopts its final position.

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Ireland and 22 member states adopt CAP conclusions