Excluding Social Conditionality from Crisis Payments Sets Risky Precedent
Brussels, 14 May 2025: EFFAT expresses serious concern over today’s European Commission’s reported proposal to exclude social conditionality from the complementary crisis payments outlined in newly proposed Article 41a of the Strategic Plan Regulation (SPR). While we recognise that these are extraordinary payments of limited extent and scope, exempting them from social conditionality sets a dangerous precedent.
This measure undermines a hard-fought achievement of the current CAP reform and raises serious concerns about future derogations—particularly as we approach the debate on the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy.
‘By exempting crisis payments under Article 41a from this basic standard, the Commission risks sending the wrong signal. This is not simplification: this is deregulation’ – says Fabrizio De Pascale, EFFAT Agriculture Sector President, and adds – ‘It weakens the protection of farm workers and undermines responsible employers who uphold workers’ rights and face unfair competition from those who do not.’
EFFAT urges the Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council to uphold their commitment to decent work and social rights and refrain from watering down the social dimension of the current CAP framework.
We call on all EU institutions to reject any exemption from social conditionality, including in times of crisis. Public funds must never reward those who violate workers’ rights—crisis or not.
‘Social conditionality is a baseline, not a burden. Social justice must remain a key pillar at the heart of the CAP’, concludes Ivan Ivanov, EFFAT Agriculture Political Secretary.
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