European Parliament Discusses the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy
Marshal Piotr Całbecki, who serves as Chair of the European Committee of the Regions’ Commission for Natural Resources (NAT), presented today (2 September) at a meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) in Brussels the Committee of the Regions’ opinion on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy for 2028-2034. The Marshal was rapporteur for the document, which was unanimously adopted at the Committee of the Regions’ plenary session on 1 July. Committee of the Regions on the future of the European Common Agricultural Policy
The meeting took place at the European Parliament as part of work on the legislative package concerning the conditions for implementing EU support for the Common Agricultural Policy after 2027. The European Parliament’s rapporteur for the package is MEP Norbert Lins.
In his address, Marshal Całbecki stressed that regional and local authorities play a key role in planning, implementing and monitoring agricultural policy and should be formally recognised as co-decision-makers alongside the Member States, with the possibility of serving as managing authorities. He also called for the direct involvement of regions in planning and assessing the agricultural component of national strategic plans.
The Marshal highlighted the need to reduce social inequalities in EU agriculture, advocating for degressive income support based on farm size, a clearer definition of the term “active farmer”, and the introduction of redistributive payments. These measures are intended to support young farmers and small family farms, in line with the direction set out in MEP Norbert Lins’s draft report.
A significant part of the Marshal’s address focused on the consequences of this year’s summer, marked by droughts, heatwaves and floods. As he stressed, these events affected farmers in many European regions and demonstrated that climate change is no longer a distant scenario but an immediate challenge for European agriculture. Among his proposals was reducing the level of national co-financing to 20% for agri-environment-climate measures, which would encourage Member States to make greater investments in adapting the sector to climate change.
“Regions cannot merely be implementers of the Common Agricultural Policy – they must be its co-creators. They are best placed to understand the realities faced by their farmers, and they bear responsibility for implementing EU solutions on the ground,” Marshal Piotr Całbecki said during his address.
Marshal Całbecki’s appearance before the AGRI Committee is another example of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region’s active presence at the EU level. His role as Chair of the NAT Commission of the European Committee of the Regions and rapporteur for the opinion on the future of the CAP gives him a direct opportunity to influence the shape of EU agricultural legislation at the stage when it is being developed, while giving the region a meaningful presence in the Brussels debate on the future of rural Europe. These activities are supported locally in Brussels by the Regional Office of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region, which monitors the work of EU institutions on a daily basis and builds the network of contacts needed to effectively represent the region’s interests.
The opinion of the European Committee of the Regions, presented by Marshal Całbecki, will be taken into account in the European Parliament and Council’s further work on reforming the Common Agricultural Policy for 2028-2034.
Regional Office in Brussels
2 September 2026
