Ahead of a meeting of the European Council at the end of November, groups including Birdlife International, WWF and European Environmental Bureau launched their joint 'No blank cheques' campaign, which aims to make "one final call for a greening of the Common Agricultural Policy." Over coming weeks, the campaign will launch adverts and analysis in the hope of influencing the Council.  

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Spending on direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy accounts for 40 percent of the entire EU budget; the 'greening' measures which feature in CAP reform are an attempt to respond to the desires of a European public that wants to see environmental protection prioritised in public spending. However, sustained lobbying has seen a number of proposed measures diluted in recent months.

The groups have lambasted decision makers and industry lobbyists, claiming that "Despite [the Commission’s] welcome and ambitious intent, it now appears that the current destructive business as usual agenda will persist… The original drive for reform is being dangerously weakened. On present progress, the result looks likely to be the continuation of the blank cheques of long standing agriculture subsidies; an outcome that will be completely incomprehensible to the public."

In the past, CAP spending has been criticised as favouring industrialised and wealthy farmers or landowners, to the detriment of young and small-scale farmers. Spending has also been blamed for helping perpetuate inequality throughout the rest of the world.

No further decision will be made on the breakdown of CAP spending under the next budget period until the budget itself has been agreed upon. The Council meeting, when Heads of State of the EU's 27 members will meet in Brussels, on the 22nd November will likely see the 2014-2020 budget set. The 'No Blank Cheques' coalition has warned that "there is a serious threat that once the financial commitment is made, any meaningful and progressive environmental measures will be stripped away, due to limited resources," claiming some MEPs and Agriculture Ministers have even gone as far as to say that there will be no greening if the CAP budget is reduced.

Although CAP spending is designed to support farmers and ensure food is affordable for all Europeans, its flaws have been exposed in the run-up to the current reform process; in March the BBC’s Panorama programme investigated subsidy payments and found that in some cases six-figure payments of public money intended for struggling farmers go to Britain's richest landowners, while some shrewd investors have bought entitlements as high-return investments and were found not be engaged in any farming activity by Panorama investigators.

Furthermore, views over the future of CAP vary within Europe. The UK government wants to gradually do away with CAP payments to make farming "more competitive," leaving farmers at the mercy of the markets. However, France, Europe’s largest recipient of CAP funding, wants spending preserved at current levels.

Wildlife organisations call for sustainable CAP

The organisations behind the 'No More Blank Cheques' campaign believe the situation can still be salvaged. They claim "A clear political lead could refocus the CAP reform on financial responsibility and on outcomes that benefit Europe’s citizens as a whole" and called on "political leaders need to insist that payments as a minimum require farmers to apply effective measures that protect the environment and take agriculture into the 21st Century."

Pulling no punches, the environmental organisations issued a joint statement on Friday (9th November), in which they declared, "The future of European agriculture is today in the hands of a small group of MEPs and Ministers, who are being cajoled by the agro-industry lobby to fork out the bulk of future payments to intensive farmers with little environmental and long-term socio-economic return. Creating a situation where this policy does not have to commit to delivering tangible benefits before taxpayers’ money is allocated only reinforces this negative perception."

The organisations concluded, "When Heads of State sit down at the end of November they should look at what is in their citizens’ interests, which is an environment that can support sustainable farming in the long term. Our politicians should use the CAP to support farmers who want to make a real difference for future generations, rather than print blank cheques for those who do not."

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