EU proposals to ‘green’ the Common Agricultural Policy examined

In October 2011, the European Commission published a package of legislative proposals setting out a future Common Agricultural Policy. These proposals are being considered by the European Parliament and Council and are scheduled to come into force after 2013. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee intends to consider these draft Regulations in light of its previous recommendations.

The Committee’s inquiry will focus on the European Commission’s proposals to ‘green’ the Common Agricultural Policy through a compulsory additional direct payment to farmers who follow certain agricultural practices deemed beneficial for the climate and the environment. The Committee invites submissions on the following areas in particular:

• whether the proposal to green direct payments will generate significant environmental benefits;
• the impact of additional greening requirements on food production and the competitiveness of the agricultural industry;
• consistency of the greening proposals with the CAP simplification agenda;
• how greening pillar 1 can be made coherent with agri-environment schemes,
• recommendations for improving the greening proposals.
  In addition, the Committee welcomes interested parties’ views on other elements of the CAP proposals.

Interested parties are invited to address these points in writing by Wednesday 16 November 2011.

The witnesses and dates for oral evidence sessions will be confirmed in due course.

For further details about this inquiry, please contact Rebecca Ross, Agriculture Specialist to the Committee, on 020 7219 2735.

Notes for those submitting written evidence to the EFRA inquiry:

Submissions should be in Word or rich text format and sent by e-mail to efracom@parliament.uk.

The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from.

Submissions must address the terms of reference.  Paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference, and the document must include an executive summary (no more than one page long).

Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during inquiries. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the Committee, please contact the Clerk of the Committee to discuss this. Please bear in mind that Committees are not able to investigate individual cases.

Personal information, such as address and contact details, should be provided separately from the body of your submission. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, no public use should be made of the submission unless you have first obtained permission from the Committee.