MEPs have voted in favour of flat-rate BPS payment of €185/ha by 2027 (€266 including greening) as part of the next CAP.

Members of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee approved reforms for the next CAP by 27 votes in favour to 17 against, with one abstention.

MEPs have set a more ambitious target than European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan set out, when it comes to internal convergence and moving money from higher to lower entitlement payments.

Convergence

MEPs have backed a Commission proposal that all EU farmers should receive at least 75% of their country's national average. They want to achieve this by 2024. In Ireland, this equates to €199/ha including greening.

By 2027, MEPs want to achieve full convergence which would see all farmers receive the same payment per hectare. This would bring historical payments to an end.

The proposals will now be debated by the full Parliament after May’s European elections.

The vote has the potential to be shelved by the next Parliament but provides a strong indication of the direction of travel of the next CAP.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal immediately after the vote, MEP Luke Ming Flanagan said: "The big thing that happened today here was that the committee accepted the principle of 100% convergence by the end of this CAP."