Farmers across Europe wielded their political clout last year during months of protests over issues including strict EU regulations and cheap imports. In response, the EU diluted some green conditions attached to farming subsidies.
The Commission announced plans on Wednesday to go further, in proposals it said could save farmers up to 1.58 billion euros per year, and limit on-site checks on farms to once per year.
The EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of farming subsidies is worth around 387 billion euros, around a third of the bloc's total 2021-2027 budget.
Smaller farmers would be exempted from baseline requirements tying their subsidies to efforts to protect the environment, and the EU would double, to 2,500 euros, the limit on annual lump-sum payments they can receive.
"The Commission is on farmers' side, and we are doing our best to cut the bureaucracy so they can focus on what they do best; producing food for all of us while protecting our natural resources," EU agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen said.
Other changes would let farms remove 10%, rather than 5%, of permanent grasslands, which the EU has encouraged farmers to preserve, to store CO2 in the soil. Farmers will also be able to receive more subsidies for existing obligations to preserve peatlands and wetlands.
Campaigners said the changes would make farmers more vulnerable to climate change, since water-storing ecosystems like wetlands help manage floods and droughts.
"Instead of helping farmers protect these vital ecosystems, the Commission is handing out a blank cheque to destroy them," said Marilda Dhaskali, policy officer at campaign group Birdlife.
The proposal would also let countries disburse more funding quickly in response to natural disasters, which climate change is worsening.
These are part of a series of EU "simplification omnibus" proposals, designed to slim down policies and paperwork for businesses struggling to compete with China and the U.S., where President Donald Trump is aggressively cutting regulation.
(Reuters, May 14, 2025)