Faculty of Law discuss about the present and future of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy

The past 20th of march took place in the Meeting Room of the Faculty of Law of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the conference “The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU” by the Dr. Gereon Thiele, former head of the Agricultural General Directions (AGRI) and of the European Commission Competence (ECC). The ceremony took place between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. and was organized by the Institute of European Studies (IEE) of the UAB and the the Association of Former Officials and Agents of the European Communities in Spain (AIACE.ES).

Throughout his intervention, Dr. Thiele went over the historical evolution of PAC, from its fundamentals on the Treaty of the Functioning of European Union —specifically Article 39 of the TFEU, which sets out the five original objectives of agricultural policy— to the deep changes product of the successive reforms: reform Mac Sharry of 1992, Agenda 200, reform Fischelr of 2005, reform Ciolos of 2015 and the last reform of 2023, which includes the eco regimes, the social conditionality and the strategic and national plans. The exposition went deeper on the two pillars of the current system: first pillar completely financed by the EU through European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and destined to the direct payments to farmers, and the second pillar, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), co-financed by the Member States and aimed at rural development, investments and agri-enviromental measures. The speaker also analysed the new CAP delivery model, which shifts the focus from detailed compliance controls to a performance-based system, with strategic plans approved by the Commission and annual monitoring reports. In the future section, he presented the main lines of the Multiannual Financial Framework 2028-2034, which foresees €323.7 billion for agriculture and rural development within the new National and Regional Partnership Fund (NRP), and devoted special attention to the EU-Mercosur trade agreement and its potential impact on the European agri-food sector.

About the speaker Dr. Gereon Thiele is a leading expert on EU agricultural law and policy. During his long career at the European Commission he held responsible positions in the Directorates-General for Agriculture and Competition, where he was directly involved in the design and implementation of several CAP reforms.

Organization Faculty of Law, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona | Institute of European Studies (IES-UAB) | AIACE.ES More information: www.uab.cat | www.aiace.es