Farmers and MEPs say the European Commission’s plan to return parts of European Union farming policy to national control is “a misstep”.
Leaders of four political groups in the European Parliament have sent a letter to EC President Ursula von der Leyen rejecting the proposal to change the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The signatories include those from her own Parliament group, the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists (S&D), Liberals (Renew Europe) and the Greens.
In their letter, the MEPs warn against the “re-nationalisation” of farm policy, stress the need to protect the CAP budget, and criticise what they called a lack of democratic oversight in the reform process.
Copa-Cogeca, the main EU farmers’ organisation, which has repeatedly warned about the risks of merging the CAP into a single fund, welcomed the letter. The reform would see funds managed in one big EU pot rather than strictly allocated per member state, which could mean less money for agriculture, it is claimed.
Both the farmer’s representation and the MEPs want to total rewrite of this proposal.
“A few cosmetic amendments or a sprinkling of extra money will not suffice,” Copa-Cageca said in a statement sent to Brussels Signal yesterday.
Many MEPs share Copa-Cogeca’s concern, saying that dissolving the CAP into a single fund would mark a “step backwards”.
The current CAP runs from 2023 to 2027. The EC’s new proposals, presented this summer for the period after 2027, aim not only to reduce funding but also reform how the money and responsibilities are shared between the EU and member states.
Théo Paquet, senior policy officer for agriculture at the European Environmental Bureau, said:
“This proposal effectively hands member states a blank cheque to rewrite the rules while failing to reserve any funds for environmental goals.
“The only positive element is the long-overdue reform of income support payments, which would prioritise farmers most in need instead of rewarding large farms based on size alone.”
Giving national farm ministers more control, though, is seen as positive by some groups in the Parliament.
Right-wing parties largely supported the reform, saying it gives countries greater flexibility to run environmental schemes, clarifies permanent grassland rules and reduces farm inspections through smarter, risk-based checks.
The proposal also raises the ceiling for lump-sum payments to small farmers and exempts farms under 10 hectares from complex compliance rules, cutting “unnecessary bureaucracy for the two-thirds of EU farms that are smallholdings,” the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group said.
ECR MEP Veronika Vrecionová, Chair of the Committee, said: “This is about listening to farmers and responding to their needs. They want clear, fair and workable rules, not endless paperwork.
“Simplification is key to ensuring environmental rules are effective without being excessive.”
A few days ago in Strasbourg, about 200 farmers from across Europe, joined by 40 on tractors, protested outside the Parliament against the EC’s CAP and budget proposals.
👀A look back at this morning Flash Action in front of the @Europarl_EN in Strasbourg, where 200 farmers from across Europe gathered against the Commission's CAP/MFF proposals along 40 tractors.
We called MEPs not to accept the unacceptable, and around 50 MEPs from across the… pic.twitter.com/5qgT16ShgQ
— COPA-COGECA (@COPACOGECA) October 21, 2025
