The European Commission presented on October 12 a proposal to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which endorses a new partnership between Europe and its farmers. The project aims at making European agriculture more competitive, ensuring sustainable production, high food quality and promoting environmental conservation and revitalization of rural areas.

The project to reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) submitted by the European Commission is to be developed in four basic Council Regulations which would address Direct Payments, the Single Common Market Organisation (CMO), Rural Development and an Horizontal regulation for financing, managing and monitoring the CAP. There will also be three other minor regulations to address transitional issues to the new rules of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013.

The proposed measures for new CAP which according to recent Eurobarometer are backed by public opinion, aim to streamline the whole European agricultural sector and to ensure its continuity. To this end, specific measures have been included, such as to facilitate the transfer of holdings from small farmers who cease their activities to other farmers, as well as measures to support young people who decide to engage in a professional career in agriculture.

In the chapter on CAP income support, the Commission has proposed to support farmers' income more fairly. As it was demanded by many different stakeholders, basic income support will affect only active farmers. These support will decrease gradually from 150,000 euro, and 300,000 euro per farm per year will be the maximum aid granted. Income support would also be more fairly distributed among farmers, regions and Member States. In general terms, this proposal seeks to place the farmer at the centre of the CAP, something that was requested by institutions such as the Committee of the Regions.

Besides, preventing desertification of the most fragile areas and stimulating the regeneration of land, are some of the key elements proposed by the Commission for the conservation and recovery of the ecosystem through farming. In order to achieve that goal, the proposals foresees to allocate 30% of direct payments to practices which enable optimal use of natural resources.

The proposal put forward by the European Commission for a new CAP involves ten key elements:

1. More targeted income support in order to stimulate growth and employment
2. More responsive and adequate crisis management tools in order to meet new economic challenges
3. 'Green' payments for long-term productivity and for preserving ecosystems
4. Additional investment in research and innovation
5. A more competitive and balanced food chain
6. Aid for young farmers setting up
7. Rural employment and entrepreneurship stimulated
8. Better account taken of fragile areas
9. A simpler and more efficient CAP