Press release
Brussels, Thursday 18 April
Yesterday, in preparation of next week’s plenary session, Christophe Clergeau MEP, the French Socialist lead person on agricultural and environmental issues, submitted an objection with the support of MEPs from the Socialists and Democrats, Greens and Left groups in order to block the delegated act on protecting permanent grasslands (cf. attachment).
« I’m continuing my fight against this attempt at undoing the green component of the CAP, an attempt that is offering no solution to the issue of farmers’ revenue nor to the concrete difficulties shown in CAP implementation. It would push agriculture to turn its back on its milestone evolution towards agroecoloy. I request a public debate in Strasbourg before the Plenary votes in order to allow transparency and respect Parliament’s democratic proceedings.
Note on GAEC1: In the EU, 34% of European farming areas are made of permanent grasslands, namely grasslands more than 5 years old. They enrich soils, sequester carbon, protect from erosion and support biodiversity. One of the conditions farmers must respect, under the CAP, to receive subsidies is to not reduce permanent grasslands areas by more than 5% at a regional level. If a region loses more than 2% of its 2018 (the reference year) permanent grassland surface, farmers must apply for an authorisation in order to plough additional grasslands. If a region loses more than 5%, areas have to be replanted as grasslands. The proposed delegated act would give Member States the power to change the reference year and effectively nullify GAEC1’s protective measures.