a love-hate relationship with 386.6 billion at stake after the elections

ago more than 60 years that began the love-hate story between the countryside and the European Union, which this Sunday is at stake in the elections to the European Parliament. Unlike other marital relationships, this one is not free: on the table there are 386.6 billion euros at stakethe amount of the European Union budget that will be allocated to the CAP from 2021 to 2027.

“The EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for the period 2021-2027 amounts to €1.21 trillion. […] The total allocation for the common agricultural policy (CAP) amounts to 386.6 billion euros,” they state in the same website of the European Commission.

It is not a trivial topic: These elections are key for the field, for the European Union and for the pact that has united them since 1962. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the main policies of the EU (and the oldest), and constitutes one of the few matters whose political power is transferred to the Commission. In addition, it moves a large amount of money.

Despite everything, for a long time, it has been a complicated relationship, to say the least, in which, although there have also been moments of affection, most of the time it has been marked by resentment.

The history of the CAP and its relationship with the countryside

Origins of the CAP

In early 1962, after the devastation of World War II, and after 140 hours of debate and discussion, The ministers of the six founding countries of the EU reached an agreement that gave legal effect to the first common agreement on agricultural matters, framed in a series of measures that sought “a future of union and peace.”

Even then they made clear what their objectives were going to be: to increase productivity and stabilize markets, ensure the availability of food at reasonable prices and provide fair standards of living for farmers. Positive and hopeful beginnings to the relationshipbecause the countryside was ranked as the EU’s main interest.

Over time, productivity and food availability increased, but farmers’ income remained stagnant despite the aid they received from the PAC. The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Sicco Mansholt, “predicted that excess production and price support could produce market imbalances.” Decisions had to be made.

He then proposed a large-scale modernization, with the aim of improving the standard of living of farmers and avoiding market distortions. It was a plan that was based on two pillars: optimizing the cultivated area and merging agricultural holdings to create larger units.

The problems begin

Until then, everything was progressing more or less positively. But the 80s arrived, and the first serious problems appeared: production began to exceed demandleading to too many surpluses.

Farmers were forced to throw away food or sell it outside the market at much lower prices. They appear like this first cracks as a result of the agreement between all countries; And then sporadic revolts by farmers and ranchers began asking to end the CAP and regain independence.

The solution they took in Brussels was not exactly encouraging for the countryside. In 1984, a quota system for products such as milk, in order to limit excess production and manage supply. “Each producer receives a quota that represents the amount of food he can produce. A fee is imposed on those who exceed the quota. At the same time, pressure is growing from external agents who accuse the European Communities of excessive protectionism and call for market liberalization,” the European Commission explains.

Two decades of stability

After the revolts that occurred in the 1980s, some reforms were carried out. The main one was to abandon the policy of unlimited guaranteed prices and begin to give direct income assistance of the farmers. But they include for the first time obligations for farmers to protect the environment and incentives to improve food quality.

This measure, positive at first, will end up becoming the noose of the field: “If you want help, you have to comply with these demands,” would be the message that is sent. But in the balance of the field, the positive aspects still outweighed the negatives. Community support continued above the environmentalist ‘choke’.

This is how the ’90s and early 2000s passed, in a healthy balance that seemed to bear fruit.

Environmentalism, increasingly ‘stifling’

Although sustainability measures were increasing, there was still talk of a happy marriage. Until 2013 arrived. The arrival of the new millennium brought with it “new challenges.” The ‘obsession’ with the environment became evident, and became the center of the CAP. “It must not only guarantee prosperity and good nutrition for society, but it must also respond to new concerns such as climate change, animal welfare, food security and the sustainable use of natural resources,” they defended in the reform that It took place that year, and it marked the beginning of the ‘divorce’.

The PAC provided aid to the countryside so that they could face all the challenges, but were not enough; They no longer had productive independence and the pressure from third countries was already becoming unbearable. And so, until 2021, when the already tense situation between both parties was almost dead, it ended up blowing up.

Some key elections

In this context, after the revolts that have occurred throughout Europe, these elections They appear fundamental for the field, Not only because the primary sector is going to have a very important weight in the next legislature, but because many things depend on how the relationship between both parties evolves. For a start, 386.6 billion euros.