Archives par mot-clé : pac

SEMINAR 21 MARCH : The Common Agricultural Policy and the Environment: Understanding the (in-)effectiveness of agri-environmental policy instruments.

Abstract


The intricate relationship between agriculture and the environment has gained significant attention in recent years, particularly in relation to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a key spending instrument in this domain. While the CAP incorporates environmental conditionalities, it has often fallen short of achieving its intended greening objectives. In this context, the seminar will explore the extent to which the governance of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) in the EU influences their environmental impact. Drawing on a systematic review of 28 studies, the presentation will examine the diverse governance models of CAP conditionalities, ranging from centralized national systems to decentralized regional approaches, and will identify key factors shaping AES performance.

With:  Diana Borniotto, UCLouvain

Discussant: Germain Haumont, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles and Brussels Bar
Chair: Marie-Sophie De Clippele, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles

Practical information

Friday 21, March 2025, 12:30 to 2:00 pm, Room P30

Link to registration

Link to Teams

Conference report: What’s in the Common Agricultural Policy for the Environment? Legal levers and obstacles for sustainable agriculture

Par Marie-Sophie De Clippele et Norman Vander Putten

Les bonnes feuilles du CEDRE

On 16th May 2024, the CEDRE and the IEE hosted a conference titled “What’s in the Common Agricultural Policy for the Environment? Legal levers and obstacles for sustainable agriculture”.

In recent decades, the intricate relationship between agriculture and the environment has gained significant attention due to pressing challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and health-related issues. While specific environmental laws within the sector exist, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) stands out as a pivotal spending instrument, wielding an approximate budget of 55 billion EUR per year. Although the CAP integrates environmental conditions and funds eco-friendly practices, criticism abounds regarding its encouragement of unsustainable agriculture and its failure to achieve intended greening goals. At the same time, the recent farmers’ protests have shown to what extent the administrative and financial burden of environmental regulations may cause some of them to put them in questions.

Surprisingly, the CAP regulations and their practical application remain vastly understudied by legal scholars. The conference therefore investigated how the CAP offers levers and/or constitutes an obstacle to environmental laws and objectives.

The morning sessions aimed at unpacking the environmental aspects of the CAP. Pr. Nicolas de Sadeleer, shared his work on the shift in the CAP’s approach to environmental issues, pointing out both advancements and p gaps. Emmanuel Petel, Policy officer at the European Commission’s (DG agriculture and rural development) presented the latest reforms and the political vision behind it.

In short, from a legal point of view, the CAP is a shared management fund, meaning that the Union sets the basic policy parameters, such as the objectives of the CAP and its essential requirements, while Member States bear greater responsibility as to how they meet those objectives and achieve targets. Under Article 39 TFEU, the CAP has primarily non-environmental objectives: it should aim to increase productivity, ensure a fair standard of living in the sector, to stabilise markets and assure food supply at reasonable prices. However, in light of the necessity to integrate environmental protection requirements “into the definition and implementation of the Union’s policies and activities” (Article 11 TFEU), it has for long been admitted by the ECJ that the CAP may also pursue additional environmental objectives (see for instance case 336/00, § 33).

The 2023-2027 CAP pursues ten objectives. Three of them directly concern the environment : contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation, efficient natural resources management and halting and reversing biodiversity  loss (see Article 6 (1) and (2) of Regulation 2021/2115).

In a nutshell, the greening of the CAP happens in three main ways. First, Member States should set up systems of eco-conditionalities, i.e. sets of conditions related to health, biodiversity, animal welfare or climate matters that farmers must comply with in order to receive their direct income support (see Article 12 of Regulation 2021/2115). The Regulation sets minimum requirements related to 11 good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAECs), and 9 statutory management requirements (SMRs) referring to the compliance with existing pieces of Union (environmental) law (see Annex 3 of Regulation 2021/2115).  Second, under the CAP, Member States financially support voluntary eco-schemes for “active farmers or groups of active farmers who make commitments to observe agricultural practices beneficial for the climate, the environment and animal welfare and combatting antimicrobial resistance” (Article 31 of Regulation 2021/2115). Third, Member States must dedicate at least 35% of the money they receive to implement rural development interventions to the environmental objectives of the CAP set out above (see Article 69 and Article 93 of Regulation 2021/2115).

In the light of the recent farmers’ protests, the 2023-2027 CAP has been adapted to alleviate i.a. the eco-conditionality system. Most notably, the revised CAP authorises Member States to establish new exemptions for given GAECs or SMRs, removes the obligation on the minimum share of non-productive features and areas removed (GAEC n° 8) and provides that no controls or penalties may be imposed on small farms (farms with less than 10 ha, which represent 65% of CAP beneficiaries and account for approximately 10 % of the total agricultural area) (See Recital 17, Article 2 and annex of Regulation 2024/1468).

The afternoon sessions explored specific tensions between agriculture and the environment. Marilda Dhaskali (BirdLife Europe) presented reports published by BirdLife and other organisations on how Member States implemented the CAP in practice, highlighting environmental shortcomings in the regulatory environment. This echoes evaluations made by both (legal) scholarship (see, for instance, De Sadeleer, 2023 or Verschuuren, 2022) and, for previous CAPs, by the Court of Auditors (see for instance reports 2017/21, 2020/13 or 2021/16, the latter being titled “Common Agricultural Policy and climate: Half of EU climate spending but farm emissions are not decreasing”).

Nieves Noval (ClienEarth) and Nikos Braoudakis (Baldon avocats) discussed the pending case indirectly contesting the Commission’s approval of the French national CAP plan on environmental grounds. Pr. Charles-Hubert Born shared his views on the internal consistency of the CAP, by providing an overview of the national performance-based system in the new CAP (see Article 104 (3) of Regulation 2021/2115) with insights from the Walloon Region’s implementation of the CAP. He also commented the changes of April 2024 that were adopted under the pressure of farmers’ protests, observing that they water down the conditionality in CAP.

The event also included two panel moments with interactive duelists – a first session brought Pr. Antoine Bailleux and Dries Verhaeghe (from Dryade) together on the leverage created by strategic litigation on pesticides use. Both shared cases, some of which their own, to insist on the importance of judicial avenues to enforce environmental rules.

The second panel offered the possibility to hear Virginie Debue (from FWA, the Fédération wallonne de l’agriculture) and Gaetan Seny (from Natagora, an NGO dedicated to environmental protection, including biodiversity and land-related issues), who shared their views on how to make a farmer become greener in the field. Mrs Debue insisted on the administrative and regulatory burden resting on the farmers’ shoulders, pointing at the rigidity of rules related to land erosion for instance. To become greener, farmers should be, according to Mrs Debue, incentivized and not punished. Mr Seny agreed on the increasing burden and bureaucracy but warned that the recent protests that led to considerable changes in CAP caused an important setback in terms of biodiversity and land use, punitive measures pursue at least clear objectives. There was common ground, however, on the lack of coherence in the Walloon regulation and the importance of funding stability. Debue denounced for instance the mandatory dates for harvest or sow without taking specific climate conditions into consideration.

The day ended with a forward-looking discussion led by Pr. Hendrik Schoukens, who wondered if the complexity of the CAP is inevitable as it sounds as a déjà vu. The founding father of CAP, Sicco Mansholt, already incarnated that complexity when drafting his famous letter in 1972 to the President of the European Commission calling for an ecological policy based on the report The limits to Growth. Taking the increasing scarcity of peatlands and swamps due to agricultural evolution as an example, Schoukens concluded that as long as strategic plans are lacking effectiveness, frustrations will continue. CAP will remain dragged in a swamp if no clear vision is set out on the relation between agriculture and the environment. Otherwise, CAP risks falling into the same trap it has before, turning agriculture against the environment.

Seminar cycle Agriculture and Environmental law: old foes or new friends?

The CAP Regulation 2021/2115 provides that farmers receiving direct income support under the CAP, have to respect i.a. statutory management requirements (SMR) laid down in the annex II of the Regulation.

Those SMR are subdivided in 3 domains:

  • public, animal and plant health,
  • animal welfare,
  • and the environment.

To define the requirements and standards associated with those (environmental) statutory management requirements, the PAC’s conditionality system refers to existing (environmental) EU law related to nitrates, water management or birds, for instance. Therefore, if designed correctly, an effective environmental conditionality in the PAC may act as an incentive-based regulatory tool that would be complementary to the traditional standard-setting directives and regulations in the field.  

The present seminar cycle will explore this issue in three steps. It will first explore some of the water- and biodiversity- related SMRs, and their relationship with the legislation referred to by the CAP. Second, it will explore more fundamentally how the CAP’s system reflects a deeper evolution of EU environmental governance, which increasingly relies on governance through (green) spending. Third, prospectively, it will investigate how increasing expert knowledge and technology concerning agricultural carbon capture may lead to it being monetised, commodified and included in the future CAP’s conditionalities.

  1. Water policy and nitrates
  2. Wild birds and habitats
  3. Public spending and environmental conditionalities in the EU
  4. Carbon capture: monetisation, commodification

Download this article in PDF

Le juge à sa juste place en matière d’environnement et de climat ?

Conférence de sortie de l’ouvrage Les grands arrêts inspirants du droit de l’environnement – Mercredi 29 mai 2024 de 17h à 19h

À l’occasion de la sortie de l’ouvrage Les grands arrêts inspirants du droit de l’environnement et en présence du collectif d’auteurs et d’éminents spécialistes, venez partager vos réflexions sur le rôle du juge en matière d’environnement, sur la manière dont l’environnement, le climat et les droits humains se marient à la lumière de la dernière actualité, ainsi que sur les pièces qui manqueraient encore dans ce vaste puzzle qu’est la construction d’un droit de l’environnement résolument contemporain.

La séance se déroulera en deux temps :

  • Le juge à l’œuvre en matière d’environnement : quel rôle a-t-il dans un contexte globalisé ?
  • Climat et droits humains : que retenir des arrêts du 9 avril 2024 de la grande chambre de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme ? Comment articuler changement climatique et conditions de vie, bien-être et respect de la vie privée et familiale ?

La conférence se terminera par une réception.

Sous la coordination de Delphine MISONNE, professeure à l’UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles, chercheuse qualifiée au FNRS, directrice du CEDRE, et Marie-Sophie de CLIPPELE, professeure à l’UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles

Programme

17h : Accueil

17h15 : Le juge à l’œuvre en matière d’environnement : quel rôle a-t-il dans un contexte globalisé ?

Avec les co-autrices de l’ouvrage Delphine MISONNE et Marie-Sophie de CLIPPELE, ainsi que Luc LAVRYSEN (président (NL) de la Cour constitutionnelle) et François OST, (professeur émérite de l’UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles, philosophe du droit et dramaturge)

18h : Climat et droits humains : que retenir des arrêts du 9 avril 2024 de la grande chambre de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme ? Comment articuler changement climatique et conditions de vie, bien être et respect de la vie privée et familiale ?

Avec Françoise TULKENS, ancienne juge, ancienne vice-présidente de la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme, et Sébastien van DROOGHENBROECK, professeur à l’UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles, assesseur au Conseil d’État

18h45  : Réception

Informations pratiques

Quand ? Mercredi 29 mai 2024, conférence de 17h à 18h45

Où ? Salle des Examens (2ème étage), UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles, Boulevard du Jardin botanique 43, 1000 Bruxelles

Tarif : 150,00 € TTC pour la participation à la conférence et l’ouvrage

Gratuit pour les étudiants et doctorants (sans ouvrage) mais inscription obligatoire par email à Ariane DE HARLEZ (a.deharlez@larcier-intersentia.be).

Renseignements complémentaires : formations@larcier-intersentia.com

Plus d’infos : https://urls.fr/iAd8vq

Formation permanente

Une demande d’agrément a été introduite auprès d’AVOCATS.BE.

Une demande d’intervention pour les frais des magistrats a été formulée auprès de l’IFJ. Important : si vous vous inscrivez en tant que magistrat, et que l’IFJ valide la demande de prise en charge (hors ouvrage), votre participation sera entièrement prise en charge par l’IFJ et aucun montant ne vous sera facturé.

Cette conférence peut faire l’objet d’une prime Liberform si vous remplissez les conditions.

COLLOQUE 16 MAI: CAP ON THE ENVIRONMENT? LEGAL LEVERS AND OBSTACLES FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN THE EU”

Conference CEDRE & IEE

16 may from 9.45 am to 4.45 pm

How does the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) offer levers to complement existing environmental laws and objectives? This conference seeks to scrutinize the effectivity and suitability of the green aspects of the CAP while also examining how this policy might impede the transition towards more eco-friendly agricultural practices. It will explore both the general framework and particular cases of contentious environmental matters, such as land erosion or pesticides.

PROGRAMME

9.45 am – Introduction (CEDRE/IEE) : Delphine Misonne, head of CEDRE, professor of environmental law at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels

10 am – New CAP, new promises? The Environment as the Elephant in the Field

Chair: Amandine Orsini, professor of international relations at UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles

  • What new shift does the CAP provide on the environment? – Nicolas de Sadeleer, professor of environmental law at UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles
  • The CAP and the environment: friend or foe? A legal perspective on their interplay – René Barents, former member of the general Court of the EU
  • Does the CAP system ensure that its environmental incentives work? Insights from the Commission – Emmanuel Petel, policy officer in the Unit in charge of sustainable environment at the DG Agri in Brussels

11.45 am – Q&A

12 am – LUNCH BREAK

1 pm – The CAP in practice: tensions between agriculture and the environment (part 1)

Chair: Norman Vander Putten, FNRS post-doctoral researcher and guest lecturer at UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles

  • Do Member States sufficiently green their agricultural policy? Unpacking the eco-conditionality in the national plans of Member States – Marilda Dhaskali, Agriculture & Bioenergy Policy Officer, BirdLife Europe, co-author of the report « New PAC unpacked… And Unfit »
  • May the implementation of the CAP be challenged because of its climate and biodiversity inadequacy? The recent pending French case – Nieves Noval, Clean Air, Water and Soil Lead, ClientEarth

1.40 pm – Q&A

2 pm – COFFE BREAK

2.30 pm – The CAP in practice: tensions between agriculture and the environment (part 2)

Chair: Marie-Sophie de Clippele, professor of law at UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles

How coherent is the CAP internally about the environment? – General presentation – Charles-Hubert Born, professor of environmental law at UCLouvain

Zooming in on two case studies:

  • How does the PAC really impact biodiversity? – Virginie Debue, Conseillère en politique agricole commune et mobilité, Fédération wallonne de l’agriculture & Gaetan Seny, Agriculture Advocacy Officer, Natagora
  • Pesticides: the procession of Echternach – Antoine Bailleux, professor of law at UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles & Dries Verhaeghe, founder of Dryade

4 pm – Q&A

4.30 pm – Conclusion : What would the post-2027 CAP look like for the environment? – Hendrik Schoukens, professor of environmental law at UGent

Practical information

  • When? 16 mai 2024 from 9.45 to 16.45
  • Where? P02, UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, Bd du Jardin Botanique 43, 1000 Bruxelles
  • Free participation on registration via this form
  • Contact: gaelle.hoogsteyn@uclouvain.be