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NGOs are suing the European Commission for having approved France’s national plan for implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) despite allegedly breaching EU law – a move that French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau called a “destructive battle”.
Read the original French article here.
The French national plan, a roadmap detailing how subsidies are to be used to achieve the CAP’s objectives, was validated by the Commission on 31 August 2022. In November of the same year, British NGO ClientEarth and a group of French associations (Collectif Nourrir) requested the approval to be re-examined.
On 17 July, the NGOs lodged a complaint against the European Commission with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
According to the organisations, the EU executive should not have approved the French National Strategic Plan since “it does not meet the minimum environmental standards required by the European CAP regulation”, they explained in a press release.
France’s Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Minister Marc Fesneau, who was questioned on the matter at an informal briefing with the press on Tuesday (25 July), deplored this “permanent spirit of demolition”.
“The legal attacks systematically carried out by certain organisations are destructive battles. We have collectively succeeded in establishing a programme and are trying to stabilise things,” he told reporters.
“What is the proposed alternative? We need to take a constructive approach, not a deconstructive approach,” he said, while complaining that the NGOs had focused on France but did not take aim at the similar plans put forward by Germany, Spain or Italy.
By taking the matter to court, the NGOs hope to obtain a ruling from the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, forcing the Commission to reassess the French national plan. An initial hearing could take place by the end of 2024.
Contacted by EURACTIV, the European Commission declined to comment.
‘Renationalisation’ of the CAP?
The provision on CAP strategic plans stresses the need to “contribute to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change”, “promote sustainable development and efficient management of natural resources” and “contribute to halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity”.
However, according to the NGOs, France’s national CAP plan does not encourage reducing greenhouse gas emissions because it supports the highly emitting cattle industry rather than sustainable livestock farming.
The group also pointed to a lack of financial incentives to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilisers and to promote more sustainable farming practices that would help to protect nature.
According to European Commission, the accusation is unfounded. The EU executive also stated on 5 May that national plans are member state competence, but that did not go down well with the NGOs.
“If the Commission does not have the powers to judge the soundness of NSPs [national strategic plans], what powers does it have?” Mathieu Courgeau, co-chairman of the Nourrir collective, told EURACTIV.
According to him, “the Commission must equip itself with the means to control NSPs effectively, not only for France but also to achieve harmony between the member states”.
He also criticised the Commission for dumping its responsibilities on the national government, claiming the CAP is somewhat “renationalised” through national CAP plans.
Breaching its own laws
In spring 2022, the Commission sent recommendations to France, pointing out its lack of “environmental ambition”.
During that summer, the government agreed to several changes, including increasing support for organic farming to distinguish it from the less restrictive High Environmental Value (HEV) label.
However, for Courgeau, these changes are “anecdotal” and insufficient, as evidenced by a report from the French High Council for the Climate and a study by INRAE, according to which “99.6% of farms in mainland France (…) can (…) reach the standard level of payment without any change to their practices”.
According to ClientEarth, by approving the French national plan, the Commission is “breaching” its own laws.
“If the Commission itself is not convinced of its ability to provide this ambitious common framework and to ensure that countries spend this money on sustainable and resilient farming practices, who is going to hold governments to account?” Lara Fornabaio, a legal expert at ClientEarth, said.
[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna/Zoran Radosavljevic]
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Source: euractiv.com
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