The European Parliament’s chief CAP negotiator has put pen to paper on the direction he wants to see farm payments taken in the coming years, with key redistribution decisions to be made at national level and a curb on coupled payments among his proposals.

German MEP Norbert Lins is looking for significant changes to the European Commission’s original CAP proposals in his recent draft report to the parliament’s agriculture committee.

This report proposes scrapping the Commission’s idea of reducing area-based income payments of over €20,000 in the scheme that is to take over from BISS in favour of dividing funds among groups of farmers deemed most in need.

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It instead looks to redistribute 15% of the direct payments envelope in a measure that would operate similar to front-loading.

The proposals state that member states would have to ensure direct payments “move from larger to smaller or medium-sized holdings by providing for redistributive income support in the form of an annual decoupled payment per eligible hectare.”

Under Lins’ redistribution plan, it would be up to individual member states to decide the value of this payment per hectare and the maximum area over which it would be paid.

An element of the original proposal that made it into Lins’ report is the plan to bring about a flat rate area-based payment by scrapping entitlements.

Where the Commission had proposed that the average payment rate across a member state for its area-based income support should fall between €130 and €240/ha, Lins has stated that this should be narrowed to €130-€200/ha.

The proposals also seek a rolling back of the Commission’s renewed focus on coupled payments as a means of supporting farm incomes.

His draft states that coupled payments “shall be limited to what is strictly necessary to address those difficulties, and to prevent the abandonment of agricultural production” while safeguarding against any payments that disrupt the single market.

Higher payment limit

MEP Norbert Lins is looking to lift the mandatory limit on income support payments payable to €500,000 per farmer, a significant increase from the €100,000 at which the Commission wants this cap applied.

His proposals would allow for member states to choose to implement a €100,000 limit at national level.

They state that the €500,000 limit proposed should apply at the level of a natural person, meaning an individual with numerous farm companies will have their overall payments capped rather than separate payment caps applying to each company.