Today the European Commission has shared its vision for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) beyond 2020 in a document called ‘The Future of Food and Farming‘. Responses are mixed, where most NGOs and other European organisations fighting for more sustainability are overall not that positive, since it still lacks highly needed EU targets to reduce the impact of agriculture on nature and climate.

In the new proposal, EU Member States are assigned a larger responsibility in the division and allotment of EU public subsidies to farmers. The implementation of such an assignment could critically undermine the EU added value of the Common Agricultural Policy, especially without proper monitoring and measurable environmental objectives in place.

The communication will be discussed in the next months by the EU Agricultural Council and the European Parliament. This will feed into the next EU Budget debate and should lead to a clearer framework in the legislative proposals expected by mid-2018.