BRUSSELS — The European Commission’s plan to slash bureaucracy for farmers risks hurting the planet.
The EU executive wants to give out more cash to aid farmers hit by natural disasters while weakening the very green rules that are meant to safeguard the environment.
That’s the main takeaway of a planned package of reforms to simplify EU farm policies, which account for over a third of the bloc’s total spending. It follows up on a major rollback of the Green Deal last year, as rural protests overshadowed campaigning for the European election last June.
According to a draft seen by POLITICO, the agriculture simplification package would further scale back environmental controls on the disbursement of funds under the Common Agricultural Policy. It would also exempt smallholders from some checks and raise the cap on subsidy payments to small farms.
