Minister Mrs Amaia Barredo proposes a future CAP “based on simplification, subsidiarity, and food security”

• The Basque Minister for Food, Rural Development, Agriculture, and Fisheries has presented the Basque Government's guidelines for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2028-2034 to the Agricultural and Food Council
• The Basque proposal calls for a new, more flexible aid model, adapted to regional realities, and capable of responding to climate and market crises
• “The time is now: the Basque Country must have its own voice in the design of the new CAP”
• “We have the experience, knowledge, and institutional legitimacy to add value to a European policy that must once again examine our territory with intelligence and sensitivity”

VG 2025 06 18

Mrs Amaia Barredo, Basque Government Minister for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food, and Fisheries, presented the strategic guidelines that the Basque Country will defend in the CAP reform process to the Agricultural and Food Council. The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be launched in the European Union after the summer.

During the meeting, held with the participation of representatives from the main agricultural unions and the entire Basque agri-food sector, Minister Barredo outlined "the institutional position that the Basque Government considers essential to defend in defining the CAP 2028-2034."

Barredo believes that "it is necessary to thoroughly rethink the current architecture of the CAP and adapt it to a context marked by structural challenges, geopolitical uncertainty, and climate crises."

Sailburu (Minister)  Amaia Barredo believes that “the next CAP must represent a useful, realistic policy that is sensitive to the needs of the sector, with a focus clearly oriented toward food production, sustainability, and territorial balance. The Basque Country is committed to a strong agricultural policy that supports our farms, recognizes the role of the regions, promotes attractive generational renewal, and guarantees a dignified future for professionals in the primary sector.”

The document presented by the Basque Government is structured around three fundamental axes:

Simplification

The Basque proposal is firmly committed to a real and effective simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy, which reduces bureaucratic complexity and improves management efficiency, both for potential beneficiaries and for the administrations.

Currently, 39 different interventions are managed in the Basque Country, 21 of them corresponding to direct aid from the first pillar. This fragmentation of measures is disproportionate, hinders access to aid, and strains administrative resources. In this regard, Amaia Barredo insists that “simplification cannot be an empty promise. It is time to streamline the system and reduce the administrative burden borne by both farms and institutions.”

Subsidiarity

“The current CAP reform has represented a step forward in the application of the principle of subsidiarity by allowing each Member State to adapt part of the policy to its own characteristics through National Strategic Plans. However, this approach has not gone far enough and has left aside regions with full powers in agricultural matters, such as the Basque Country,” observes Amaia Barredo.

According to Amaia Barredo, “the Basque Government considers it essential that the next reform recognize the institutional reality of states with regional structures managed by autonomous or sub-state governments, and that it considers the possibility of designing and implementing Regional Strategic Plans. This greater decentralization would allow for a better response to the agroclimatic, economic, and social characteristics of each territory, providing greater effectiveness and legitimacy to the common policy.

“The CAP cannot be uniform in its application. Europe is diverse, and so is the agricultural sector. In the case of the Basque Country, we have our own production model and sufficient powers to manage our priorities autonomously, and from a regional perspective,” emphasized Minister Barredo.

Food Security

In the face of the new global scenario, marked by conflicts, trade disruptions, the impacts of climate change, and market volatility, the Basque Government advocates that the CAP restore European food security as a strategic priority.

“This does not mean abandoning the environmental objectives of the Green Deal, but rather rethinking them from a more realistic and progressive perspective, based on incentives rather than prohibitions that compromise production capacity without offering viable alternatives,” explains Amaia Barredo.

“The stable supply of safe, sustainable, and quality food must return to the center of the European debate. Food security, along with technological and energy sovereignty, is a geopolitical issue.” Therefore, the next CAP must guarantee the necessary conditions to maintain and strengthen our agricultural and livestock sector," the minister emphasized. In addition to these three sections, the Basque Government proposes a review of the current aid model, allowing for greater flexibility, adaptability, and coordination between policies.

Facing this new scenario, it is essential to have a strong multiannual financial framework that firmly supports the agricultural sector. In this regard, Amaia Barredo advocates increasing the budget allocated to the new programming period, thus ensuring the necessary resources to address the current and future challenges of the primary sector.

In addition to these three sections, the Basque Government proposes a review of the current aid model, allowing for greater flexibility, adaptability, and coordination between policies.

The key elements of the new aid approach proposed by the Basque Government's Department of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture, and Fisheries include: Maintaining the two current pillars (direct aid and rural development); Dual structuring of interventions: national plans and regional plans (in the case of Spain); Proportional distribution of funds allocated based on the current budget (financial funds); Activation of extraordinary aid mechanisms (for example, 5% of the budget) to address adverse climate events or market crises; and Mandatory contribution from regional policy (ERDF, ESF+, EMFF, Cohesion Fund) to second-pillar interventions, promoting more integrated and cross-cutting rural development.

Collaboration

The meeting of the Agricultural and Food Council constitutes the first step toward consolidating a common Basque position, which will be conveyed to both the Ministry of Agriculture and the EU institutions in the coming months.

"The Basque Government's Department of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture, and Fisheries will continue to work closely with agricultural unions, cooperatives, sector associations, and other stakeholders to defend the interests of the Basque countryside at a key moment for its future," commented Mrs Amaia Barredo.

"In this sense, the sector has welcomed the approach taken and has requested that this dialogue with the administration be maintained, and that, as the "If progress is made in these meetings, we will opt for active participation by making proposals," commented Amaia Barredo.

Amaia Barredo affirms that "the time is now: the Basque Country wants and must have its own voice in the design of the new CAP. We have the experience, knowledge, and institutional legitimacy to add value to a European policy that must once again examine our territory with intelligence and sensitivity.".