The Commission will propose to cut the link between the Green Deal and the Common Agricultural Policy, according to a draft regulation seen by Euractiv. It represents yet another nail in the coffin of the green legislation that dominated the last legislature. But it may be the most significant blow yet. For the last 25 years, farmers have needed to prove they meet ecological conditions in order to access EU support – a requirement that helped justify the subsidies themselves. Farmers put up with more bureaucracy at the EU and national level in return for broader support. But this trade-off was a fine balance – one that tipped in February 2024, when farmers turned up in their thousands to protest against many things, of which "green bureaucracy" was a prominent one. The Capitals added their voices to the cause, calling for the “simplification” of their own administrative tasks. Later last year, the EU started dismantling the environmental conditionality in the battle against “green red tape”. The campaign to free farming from paper-pushing will culminate next week, it now seems. But despite the time and cost saving farmers are looking forward to with the removal of “money for green” conditions, they might be less enthusiastic about the likely reduction in the CAP. Read more. | 