More cuts to scheme red tape planned

Next year will see the European Commission unveil proposals aimed at cutting scheme paperwork to leave farmers more free to carry out farm work.

European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen said that the key theme to emerge from EU Council discussions held this week the on post-2027 CAP was “simplification”.

“I think it is about time to stop talking about simplification. We must now do it,” the Commissioner told the EU agricultural outlook conference.

The Luxembourg man referenced the move made earlier this year to exempt farms below 10ha from CAP inspections and payment penalties as an example of where Brussels has already managed to cut red tape.

“That is something where I will look very closely at over the next weeks to be able to actually come forward already in 2025 with a simplification package building on what has been done.”

The package will come as the Commissioner is set to frame a “future vision for agriculture” in March before CAP reform talks kick off.

This vision will seek to chart the Commission’s plans forward on issues including farm incomes, EU farmers’ competitiveness and generational renewal, Commissioner Hansen said.

He indicated that he will push for a strong CAP budget as he sees a weaker budget as being a “way more expensive option for food production” that would create “dangerous dependencies” on imports to feed Europe.

The Commissioner plans to conclude post-2027’s CAP negotiations quicker than the previous reform’s were, saying that delays to signing off on the current CAP left member states putting regulations into national law in a way that contributed to farmers’ administrative burden.

He also told the conference that his broader view of the Green Deal is that environmental targets can be met without cutting production. “That is very important because I don’t want to go in a direction where we say you have to reduce livestock or reduce certain production because I think that is not the right way forward,” he said.