The reform process

With the negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the specialised policies, including the CAP, are also being revised. The duration of the regulations on the agricultural policy is linked to the timeframe of the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework because the size of the budget is closely linked to the scope and organisation of the CAP. This approach will also be pursued for the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, although the substantive negotiations on the Common Agricultural Policy have not yet been finalised.

At the European Council held in July 2021, the 27 heads of state and government agreed on the basic framework for the 2021-2027 MFF. The agricultural budget for 2021-2027 amounts to 386.6 billion euros. This is 21.6 billion euros more than the European Commission had originally proposed for the CAP. For Austrian farmers, this means an increase in funding by 35 million euros compared to the 2014-2020 CAP period. This increase is due to the increase in funding for rural development and enables Austria to continue on its successful path in rural development.

With the presentation of the legislative proposals for the CAP post-2020 by the European Commission on 1 June 2018, the negotiations on a reorganisation of the Union's agricultural policy officially began. After a public consultation and further preparatory work of the EU institutions, the Commission presented a package of three legislative proposals, the so-called basic acts.

• Proposal for a Regulation on the CAP strategy plans
• Proposal for a Regulation on the financing, the management and control system of the CAP.
• Proposal for a Regulation establishing a common organisation of the market (CMO) in agricultural products

Since June 2018 the proposals of the Commission have been discussed and negotiated intensively at all levels of the Council - in the Council Working Parties, in the Special Committee Agriculture and in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. At the same time, the European Parliament is also dealing with the 2020 CAP reform package for the time after 2020. The CAP legislative proposals were presented in the Council under the Bulgarian Presidency.

During the Austrian Council Presidency in the second half of 2018, all three proposals for regulations were completely worked through in the Council Working Parties and written proposals for amendments were formulated on the basis of these discussions. Moreover, the legislative proposals were also on the agendas of the Special Committee Agriculture and of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council. At the end of its presidency, the Austrian Council Presidency presented a progress report on the entire CAP reform package and the revised legal texts to the Agriculture and Fisheries Council.

Under the Romanian, Finnish, Croatian and German presidencies, work continued in all Council bodies, with the general orientation - i.e. a common position of the Council - of the Post-2020 CAP reform package being achieved under the German presidency at the Council meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers on 21 October 2020.

The European Parliament participates in the reform of the present agricultural policy as co-legislator for the second time now and, in early April 2019, put the three Regulations of the CAP reform package to the vote at the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI). All three reports were adopted; however, voting at the plenary was not possible in the last legislative term. The new Parliament decided to continue work on the basis of the existing reports and, at the plenary session in Strasbourg on 23 October 2020, once again agreed on its position.

The so-called "trilogue negotiations" are currently underway between the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament with the aim of reaching an agreement between the co-legislators. The Council is represented in the trilogues by the Member State holding the Council Presidency. For better planning, especially for farmers, political agreement between the Council and the European Parliament as soon as possible is welcomed, as a large number of implementing provisions will then have to be adopted at both EU and national level.

As negotiations on the CAP post-2020 are still ongoing, a transitional period was created for 2021 and 2022, during which funding is provided via the 2021-2027 MFF, but the legislation of the 2014-2020 CAP period applies as far as possible.

This ensured that a smooth transition of the CAP support for farmers and rural areas from the old to the new CAP period is possible. To better manage the COVID-19 pandemic, additional funding for rural development will be made available from the NextGenerationEU instrument for the transition period.