Exemptions to the Enhanced Conditionality of the Common Agricultural Policy
Exercised, Exploited or Eschewed?
Exemptions to the Enhanced Conditionality of the CAP
This publication has previously been published by CAP Reform on 25 January 2025.
The cross-compliance regime of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) specifies several conditionality rules that farmers must follow to be eligible to receive EU funding, including the so-called direct (or basic income support) payments. These payments account for 20-25% of the total EU budget. The conditionality rules include so-called Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs), based on EU legislation (e.g. Nitrates, Natura 2000 and Animal Welfare Directives) and several Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAECs), which are part of the CAP. Being linked to direct payments that most European farmers receive, the GEACs are considered an important instrument to move EU agriculture in a more sustainable direction.
In this article, Pieter Zwaan examines to what extent Member States used the exemptions offered. Because many mandatory requirements became voluntary, Member States had to decide which requirements they would keep in their NSPs and which they would loosen. Based on data collected via a network of think tanks including from Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland and Spain, he presents what changes these respective Member States made in their NSPs for 2025. The analysis this article presents is based on information gathered by the think tanks, often via accessing national policy documents; it is not based on amendments to the NSPs that have been officially reported to the Commission.
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