Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020: Direct payments – A reference note

Please note: Each In-Depth Analysis is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.This document aims to explain the principles and rules of the direct payments system in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2014-2020. Indeed, direct payments are the backbone of the CAP and they take the largest share of the CAP budget, more than 70% of the €408.31bn budget or about €42bn each year.

In Europe, more than 7.3m farmers are beneficiaries of direct payments, and they manage more than 170m hectares of agricultural land. In terms of farm income, direct payments represent, at the EU level, more than 25% of the gross value added of EU agriculture and in some Member States more than 50%.

Author: Francesco Tropea

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union: Publications available via the EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/directorate-general-for-internal-policies-of-the-union-cbf.cKABstF7wAAAEjwYYY4e5K/

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: In-Depth Analysis, December 2016: Common Agricultural Policy 2014-2020: Direct payments - A reference note http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/595864/EPRS_IDA(2016)595864_EN.pdf

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