The European Commission has sent Italy its observations on the CAP Strategic Plan for alignment with the Green Deal. The European Commission has sent Italy its observations on the CAP Strategic Plan for alignment with the Green Deal.
The homework needs to be done again. The European Commission has invited Italy to revise and supplement its national strategic programming plan for the CAP 2023-2027 in light of the new scenarios posed by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and by strengthening alignment with the objectives of the European Green Deal aimed at tackling the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis.
With 244 observations, the Commission has judged the plan, in its current form, insufficient. Among the various points, a revision of the fund distribution strategy is requested — one that could benefit the most disadvantaged rural areas rather than those traditionally most favoured, such as the large plains; further measures are urged for precision agriculture and energy efficiency; the issue of labour exploitation is to be addressed "given the very high rate of irregularities (over 55 per cent) found in the Italian agricultural sector." It is also underlined that "significant improvements to the plan are needed on the objective of protecting the environment and biodiversity," with a request to specify how targets such as 25 per cent of land farmed organically by 2027 are intended to be achieved.
The Commission also dwells on the framework of eco-schemes — a new instrument introduced by the CAP to reward farmers who voluntarily choose to take on greater commitments in terms of environmental protection and climate action — noting that it "is rather fragile and does not seem to seize the opportunity to include a wide range of environmental and climate issues, such as the protection of water sources, the reduction of water, nutrient and pesticide use, as well as carbon sequestration."
"The European Commission has confirmed in its observations many of the critical points we had already highlighted" — stated 17 environmental and organic farming associations, including Slow Food and Federbio, which had jointly submitted their observations on the draft Plan sent by Italy to Europe on 31 December last year.
Acknowledging the Ministry of Agriculture's act of transparency in publishing the observations, the associations welcome the convening of a new meeting of the Partnership Table announced for 19 April and renew their openness to dialogue with all stakeholders for a constructive discussion that can guide the agroecological transition of our agri-food system, along the path set out by the European Farm to Fork and Biodiversity 2030 strategies.
