Today, the European Parliament is set to approve substantial simplifications to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) providing much-needed support and reducing administrative burdens for European farmers. The final compromise reached with the EU Council on 10 November represents a clear improvement compared to several extreme proposals that risked weakening social and environmental conditionality. The new rules, which could generate significant savings in time and costs for farmers and national authorities, will enter into force on 1 January 2026.

André Rodrigues, European Parliament’s lead negotiator on CAP simplification, said:

“Thanks to the leadership of the S&D Group and after demanding negotiations, the plenary is set to approve a meaningful simplification of the CAP. We are making farmers’ lives easier while safeguarding direct payments.

“Small farms will benefit from stronger support with less bureaucracy, as we successfully increased the ceiling for lump-sum payments from €1,250 to €3,000, as well as reducing the number of on-the-spot checks to one per year. We also secured higher support limits for young farmers and rural businesses, raising the maximum from €50,000 to €75,000. In addition, member states will gain crucial flexibility to transfer up to 25% of funds to better address local needs in the EU’s outermost regions.

“At the same time, organic farms will be recognised as automatically compliant with several of the environmental protection rules. Both the green architecture and social conditionality remain fully protected. This proves that simplification and sustainability are not opposing goals, but can reinforce each other with political will.”