The conference held in Brussels on 19 and 20 July on the future CAP was hosted by the Agriculture Commissioner and presented the results of the public consultation launched in April, followed by discussions on the challenges facing agriculture, the environment and rural areas and what solutions might be most appropriate to tackle these.

Member States now have the freedom to restrict or ban the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their territory under new co-existence guidelines as part of a new package of legislative and non-legislative measures adopted by the Commission on 13 July.

Last month, Friends of the Earth Europe organised a conference in the European Parliament on ‘Measuring Europe’s Resource Use: A vital tool in creating a resource efficient EU’. A full write up of the conference is now available.

MEPs voted in favour of George Lyon’s own-initiative report on the future of the CAP at a Plenary session in Strasbourg on 8 July. The report was adopted following an additional last minute amendment broadening the issues that should be defined as public goods to include food security and food safety.

Staged against a backdrop of European milk producer protests, recommendations from the Commission’s High Level Group on Dairy sparked the only major discussion point at the first Agriculture Council under the Belgium Presidency.

A new report launched by BirdLife International finds that current CAP spending intensity is not reflecting any nature conservation priorities nor supporting nature-friendly farms in three key European countries.

A new report released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) highlights the upcoming CAP reform as an important opportunity to address the existing shortcomings of the agricultural sector in terms of biodiversity.

This IEEP paper for the Land Use Policy Group (LUPG) sets out the key issues and questions that need to be considered for the establishment of a Sustainable Production Agenda for Europe and explores the implications of these issues for the development of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2013 – 2020.

Agriculture Ministers had a quiet final gathering under the Spanish Presidency in June’s Agriculture Council held in Luxembourg, where discussions focused on the reopening of negotiations between the EU and the Mercosur bloc, the authorisation of 6 genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and CAP simplification.

This IEEP paper for the Land Use Policy Group's (LUPG) examines a range of transitional arrangements that could facilitate a shift in the basis of CAP payments away from the current system of support, towards one based on a rationale more focused on the provision of environmental goods and services.

This IEEP paper for the Land Use Policy Group's (LUPG) evaluates the case for using state intervention to reverse existing environmental degradation and deliver improvements, before focusing specifically on the rationale for intervening at the European level.

The UK’s Committee on Climate Change has just released a report which recognizes the importance of the agriculture sector in achieving emissions reductions.

Agriculture Ministers met for two days of informal talks on 30 May – 1 June, in Merida, Spain, which afforded an opportunity for discussion over their respective positions ahead of the publication of the Commission’s Communication on a post-2013 CAP.

A new study has been published evaluating the impact that halting direct payments to farmers might have on the viability of farms in the EU-25.

The online public debate on the future of the CAP launched by Commissioner Mr Ciolos in April has been extended by one week to now end 11 June.

The Danish Presidency of the EU began on 1 January 2012 outlining four principal themes for the forthcoming six months: 'A responsible Europe; a dynamic Europe; a green Europe; and a safe Europe’. In terms of the CAP reform discussions, the Danish EU Presidency and the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mette Gjerskov, have stressed the need for both a green and market-oriented CAP.

The Commission published its Legal Proposals for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013 on 12 October 2011. This is the first time that decisions on CAP reform have involved the European Parliament as well as the European Council under the ordinary legislative procedure. As such there is considerable uncertainty as to how long the process of negotiation and reaching agreement will take.

Today’s proposals from the Commission on the future CAP could have represented a major step towards improved environmental management across the EU, but in practice they leave major doubts over how much really will be delivered. Bold ambitions to green the CAP have become diluted by a focus on increasing the legitimacy of direct payments to farmers - at the expense of measures capable of maximising the delivery of environmental public goods. One of the reasons for this is that the new green payments under Pillar 1 have to be applicable in all parts of the EU and paid annually. This creates real challenges for sustaining substantive environmental improvements over time.

The leaked CAP proposals have sparked initial reactions by a number of policy stakeholders.