The European Commission has listened closely to the concerns expressed by farmers and EU countries and worked hard to deliver swift and concrete actions to respond to the issues raised.
Simplification of the European policies on agriculture is a constant priority, at both EU and national level. The delivery model of the current common agricultural policy (CAP), based on CAP Strategic Plans designed and implemented at national level, already represents a step forward in terms of simplification and increased subsidiarity compared with the previous period.
2025 CAP simplification and competitiveness package
In line with strategic priority set out in the Competitiveness Compass, the Commission is proposing a package of 25 amendments to the Common agricultural policy (CAP) legislation to:
- Simplify the implementation of the CAP,
- Enhance farmers’ competitiveness, and
- Improve their resilience in crisis.
The Commission also published its Vision for Agriculture and Food in February 2025, which outlines key areas for adjustments of the current agricultural legislative framework.
Main changes proposed
The proposals are based on CAP tools which could be improved to unlock the opportunities of CAP support for farmers and administrations and include:
- Increasing attractiveness of the simplified payment scheme for smaller farms by raising the annual lump-sum payment limit for small farmers from EUR 1 250 per farm to EUR 2 500, and exempting them from conditionality requirements while allowing them continued access to eco-schemes.
- Facilitating access to finance and investment support in particular for young and smaller farmers by introducing a new type of simplified investment support of up to EUR 50 000, allowing funding for investments to bring farms up to legal standards, simplifying rules and improving conditions on accessing financial instruments, and encouraging the use of simplified cost options to reduce administrative burden of farmers.
- Better recognition of organic farming by considering fully certified organic farms to be in line with equivalent requirements under conditionality.
- Incentives for farmers to protect peatlands and wetlands, as set out under Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition 2 (GAEC 2).
- Reducing on-farm control burden by introducing the principle of ‘one on-the-spot check per year’.
- Strengthening the resilience and preparedness of EU farmers for crisis by broadening flexibilities under risk management tools.
- Reinforcing the capacity of the CAP to provide support to farmers affected by natural disaster or animal diseases by introducing crisis payments which could be deployed quickly in response to crisis.
- Unlocking the benefits of digitalisation by stimulating the “once only” principle for providing data to administrations and “one stop shop” principle in farmers’ data reporting.
- Increased flexibility and subsidiarity for EU countries to adapt CAP support to changing circumstances by limiting ex ante approval of changes to CAP Strategic Plans only in cases of strategic amendments.
- Greater flexibility for EU countries in adapting their CAP Strategic Plans, with prior approval from the Commission required only for strategic amendments.
Expected savings
This is part of broader process and building on the simplification measures introduced in 2024.
EU countries play a key role in keeping the administrative burden for farmers limited and proportionate. Any successful simplification exercise must be carried out in close cooperation between the Commission, the national administrations and farmers themselves.
More information
- Common agricultural policy simplification package (PDF)
- Common Agricultural Policy simplification package – annex (PDF)
- Roadmap for simplifying the CAP legal framework to reduce burden on farmers and national administrations (PDF)
- Staff Working Document accompanying the Common Agricultural Policy simplification package (PDF)
- Study on simplification and administrative burden for farmers and other beneficiaries under the CAP
- Highlighted
The European Commission is presenting a package of measures targeting the administrative burden, controls, implementation, crisis response and investment needs of the EU agricultural sector.
2024 actions on simplifying the policy and providing more flexibility to farmers
In the first year of implementation of the current CAP (2023-27), EU farmers faced challenges to fully comply with some of the standards beneficial to the environment and climate called good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAECs). Delivering on its commitment to ease the administrative burden for EU farmers, the Commission proposed on 15 March 2024 to change certain provisions of the common agricultural policy (CAP) related to conditionality and CAP Strategic Plans.
These proposals aimed to:
- reduce the burden related to controls for EU farmers with a diminution by at least 50% of the number of on-farm visits by national administrations, and for farms under 10 hectares, the exemption from controls and penalties related to compliance with conditionality requirements
- provide them with greater flexibility for complying with certain environmental conditionalities.
The changes to current CAP rules result in:
- more flexibility for farmers and national administrations
- requirements more compatible with farming realities.
The simplification measures were carefully calibrated, and targeted to maintain a high level of environment and climate ambition in the current CAP.
These proposals were voted on 24 April 2024 by the European Parliament, and entered into force on 25 May 2024, after their final adoption by the Council. They apply retroactively to EU farmers to cover the year 2024. The Commission took stock of progress in implementing the simplification package. It outlined the key challenges, the process, the results of the consultations that fed into the package, and the different options considered.
In addition to the legislative review of the CAP with the European Parliament and the Council, the Commission took measures directly responding to EU countries’ request to review the methodology for certain checks. The Commission’s clarification on how to assess the quality of the Area Monitoring System and how to use geo-tagged photos will result in a reduction of the number of on-farm visits by national administrations by up to 50%. With fewer visits from the administration to manage, farmers will have more time to dedicate to their core work.
The Commission also took other short-term actions:
- The change of the requirement to maintain permanent grassland (GAEC 1) to cater for cases of structural changes in farming, in particular where farmers no longer have livestock.
- A clarification of the use of the concept of force majeure and exceptional circumstances to improve the certainty of getting CAP support for farmers impacted by unfortunate events outside their control, such as severe drought or floods.
- The increase of the number of amendments allowed each year for CAP Strategic Plans so EU countries can adapt more frequently their support measures to changing conditions. The approval process of amendments to CAP Strategic Plans is also being simplified.
From 7 March to 8 April 2024, the European Commission launched an online survey in all EU languages to gather directly the views of EU farmers. It received close to 27 000 replies.
This survey helps to identify the sources of administrative burden and complexity stemming from CAP rules as well as other rules for food and agriculture. It will feed into a detailed analysis to be published in Autumn 2024, aiming to clarify the sources of complexity for farmers: EU level, national level, CAP, and other requirements and policies.
Timeline
- 14 May 2025
Commission proposes CAP simplification and competitiveness package to support farmers and Member States
- 10 December 2024
- 24 April 2024
Vote by the European Parliament on the legislative review of the CAP presented by the Commission
- 13 February 2024
Strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain
Reinforcing the position of farmers in the food supply chain is one of the key objectives of the CAP. While the degree of trust and cooperation between actors in the chain is increasing thanks to several measures already in place at EU level, the full implementation and enforcement of the available policy tools take time, and more needs to be done.
- Reduction by at least 50% of the number of on-farms visits by national administrations.
- €98 billion dedicated to voluntary actions advancing the environmental, climate and animal welfare objectives.
- Farms under 10 hectares exempted from controls and penalties related to compliance with conditionality requirements.
Short- and mid-term actions
The Commission presented to the Council and the European Parliament several actions.
- Setting up the EU agri-food chain Observatory (AFCO) to bring increased transparency on prices, and structure of costs and distribution of margins and added value in the supply chain.
- Presenting a report on the implementation of the Directive on unfair trading practices (UTP) in the food supply chain.
- Proposing targeted changes to the Regulation establishing a common market organisation of agricultural products (CMO) to further correct imbalances in the food supply chain. New rules on contracts concluded between farmers and buyers are expected and a strengthening of producer organisations to allow farmers to cooperate and act collectively in a more effective way.
- Introducing new rules on cross-border enforcement against unfair trading practices to enhance the cooperation of national enforcement authorities, notably by improving the exchange of information and collection of penalties.
- Reviewing existing policy to assess if more legislative proposals are needed. The Commission will present in 2025 a thorough evaluation of the Directive on unfair trading practices in the food supply chain, in force since 2021.