The European Parliament's AGRI Committee on 25 June 2026 held a public hearing on the Commission's CAP funding proposal, revealing deep divisions over the future shape of the Common Agricultural Policy. Disputes centred on whether to maintain an autonomous CAP with its own rules or integrate it into broader national partnership plans, with MEPs and stakeholders also clashing on ring-fenced funding, capping, and the balance between environmental incentives and competitiveness.
Opening the hearing, Norbert Lins (EPP) set the stage, while Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR) chaired. Maria Skovager Østergaard of COPA-COGECA urged a farmer-usable CAP toolbox with incentive-based green support, opposing capping and degressivity. Luc Vernet of Farm Europe backed an autonomous CAP plan with its own rules. Markus Hopfner of the Austrian CAP Strategic Plans Managing Authority warned of added governance burdens, and Silvia Capdevila of FEGA, Spain, argued the model could cut resources and complicate planning. The Commission representative defended the proposal as preserving a minimum ring-fence for farmers while improving synergies.
On the autonomous CAP vs integrated partnership plans, Cristina Maestre (S&D) and Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR) opposed dilution of CAP's common character. Barry Cowen (Renew) warned that ring-fenced funding could lead to budget cuts, while Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA) and Carmen Crespo Díaz (EPP) stressed the need for a level playing field. Capping and degressivity were opposed by Østergaard and Arno Bausemer (ESN) but supported by Waitz and Asger Christensen (Renew). Jessika van Leeuwen (ECR) warned against purely extensive approaches to environmental incentives. Hopfner and Capdevila cited extra red tape from the proposal. Many MEPs supported a transition year.
Consensus emerged on preserving CAP's common character, ring-fenced funding, predictability, simplification, support for young farmers, and environmental action. The hearing will feed Parliament's legislative work.
Farmers (via COPA-COGECA) face uncertainty over funding levels and green obligations; national administrations (Austria, Spain) risk added complexity; environmental groups (Greens/EFA) gain from capping and incentives; agri-business (Farm Europe) pushes for autonomous rules to protect competitiveness.