The end of the CAP as we know it? Newsletter

Key diary dates

Wednesday 14 May – College of commissioners set to agree second omnibus proposal for simplification of regulation related to agriculture.
Wednesday 14 May – Farmer’s Horizon: Sustainability, Innovation and the Toolbox event at Euronews, Brussels, featuring interview with Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen.
Thursday 15 May – EU Foreign Ministers to hold a policy debate on EU-US trade relations during Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
Friday 16 May – Sixth meeting of the European Political Community in Tirana, Albania under the theme ‘New Europe in a new world: unity – cooperation – joint action’.

In spotlight

Yet another “omnibus” – the EU’s increasingly favoured jargon for sweeping simplification packages in Ursula von der Leyen’s second term – is arriving at its Brussels destination this week.

This time, it’s the turn of agriculture, with the presentation of the package scheduled for the Commission’s college readout on Wednesday.

After presenting the package, EU agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen will join us at Euronews’ newsroom for an interview during the event ‘Farmers’ Horizon: Sustainability, Innovation and the Toolbox’.

So what will be in the omnibus? In short, a simplification of the EU’s agricultural rulebook.The package is set to give member states greater flexibility to amend their national strategic plans which are the annually submitted roadmaps designed to meet the goals of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The aim is simplification across the board: easing the burden of compliance checks for farmers seeking EU subsidies, addressing redundancies in overlapping frameworks, such as the dual regulation of the organic sector.

Perhaps the most striking element is the apparent removal of binding environmental conditions from the CAP funding. Drafts of the package suggest a significant rollback, with remaining legal links to climate and environmental legislation required to access subsidies stripped away.

This follows earlier relaxations of green rules in response to widespread farmer protests. Now, many fear, the Commission is abandoning environmental ambition altogether, while others argue that this marks a pragmatic shift away from an approach that never fully delivered on its green promise.

Behind the scenes, tensions have been reported between Commissioner Hansen’s cabinet, aligned with von der Leyen’s political messaging, and DG AGRI, the Commission’s agriculture department, which has been trying to preserve elements of the previously agreed legislative framework.

One thing is clear: this is not just about simplification. The package signals a major shift in how the EU intends to govern agriculture, setting the stage for the next big milestone, the forthcoming proposal for the post-2027 CAP, expected soon after the presentation of the EU’s long-term budget.

So, will this week’s omnibus mark the end of the CAP as we know it?

Policy newsmakers

Top brass in DC for talks

A delegation of senior experts from the European Commission led by trade department chief Sabine Weyand went to Washington last week to meet US counterparts, aiming to progress negotiations after the US launched a tariff volley against the EU mid-March. EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič conceded that negotiations are “not easy” during an exchange with MEPs last Tuesday noting that the EU offered the US a zero-for-zero tariff on cars and industrial goods. “We are not weak or under undue pressure to accept a deal which is unfair to us,” the Commissioner told the MEPs.