CAP Reform – The Final Countdown?

There is a lot of discussion over whether there will be an agreement on CAP by the scheduled end of June ‘deadline’.  The distance between the three bodies, the European Parliament, the Farm Council and the European Commission, still appears wide in many areas.  If some sort of deal is not concluded by the end of this month then a combination of factors means that it could be delayed well into the autumn or winter.  These include the long summer break that most EU institutions take in August, German elections in September, and the inexperience of the Lithuanians who take over the 6-monthly Presidency of the EU from the 1^st July. 

The odds still seem to favour a deal by the end of this month, but it may not be a ‘clean’ outcome.  There is a view that just enough of an agreement will be cobbled-together to allow the participants to announce a successful result.  But this could be very broad-brush stuff – perhaps just a few bullet points on a press release rather than the draft legal texts which we have been used to in the past.  The details would then be negotiated over the next couple of months under the Lithuanian Presidency (although the ‘Lithuanians’ running the negotiations may have broad Irish accents . . . ). 

To some extent, this is what has happened in the past, with Farm Council political deals then being sketched-in by subsequent Implementing Regulations.  But the Council deals provided a level of detail on the rules that may be lacking this time around.  For advisors this could be problematic as the headlines will be saying ‘deal done’, but with few concrete facts to pass on to impatient clients. 

On the detailed choreography of the final(?) negotiations, we have already stated that the Farm Council in Luxembourg on Monday 24^th and Tuesday 25^th is key.  In fact, talks are likely to commence on the Sunday, with representatives of the European Parliament present.  There may be some last-minute negotiations on the 26^th, but the talks cannot go on indefinitely, as the translators are needed back in Brussels on the Thursday for an EU Summit!   MEPs are insistent that a final deal has to be formally agreed by representatives of the Parliament, which could see the whole show moving back to Brussels after the 26^th for a final sign-off.