Luxembourg (dpa) – Agricultural plans drawn up by EU international locations to entry the bloc’s large subsidies will not be local weather pleasant sufficient and don’t adequately defend the surroundings, prime coverage auditors warned on Monday.
The “inexperienced design” of the European Union’s Widespread Agricultural Coverage (CAP) is healthier, mentioned Nikolaos Milionis, the lead auditor of the investigation mentioned in a press release. “Nonetheless, in contrast with the previous, we haven’t seen substantial variations within the member states’ agricultural plans,” he added.
Totalling 378.5 billion Euro, CAP is price practically a 3rd of the EU funds and is supposed to help farmers’ incomes and safeguard the bloc’s meals provides.
CAP can be meant to guard the surroundings with funding circumstances. The agricultural subsidies coverage offers EU member states totally different choices to satisfy the bloc’s environmental and local weather change goals.
ECA: EU international locations use exemptions to circumstances
Nonetheless, investigators from the European Court docket of Auditors (ECA) discovered that every one EU international locations used “exemptions to agricultural and environmental circumstances.”
The ECA additionally discovered that some EU international locations “decreased or delayed the applying of the inexperienced measures which might be required for acquiring EU cash.”
“There’s a noticeable hole between the EU’s environmental and local weather targets and the agricultural plans drawn up by EU international locations,” the ECA mentioned.
After large EU farmer protests towards forms and falling incomes, the European Fee responded by additional stress-free sure necessities similar to these associated to crop rotation to entry subsidies.
The ECA highlighted that this transfer to pacify farmers dangers impacting CAP’s environmental goals additional. Additionally missing had been measures to watch carbon emission reductions.
Milionis mentioned that “the EU’s ambitions for the local weather and the surroundings will not be matched at nationwide stage.”
Whereas EU international locations complied with CAP necessities to put aside a minimal quantity of funds for “environmental and local weather measures,” auditors concluded that CAP plans are “not considerably greener.” (30 September)
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