Potential impact of a proposal of CAP 1st pillar aids based on AWU across the EU

A department reporting to the French Prime minister tabled last week a report proposing to consider a switch from 1st pillar aids per ha to a payment per AWU (and eventually the remaining part of the 1st pillar budget per ha). 

It suggested a 8000 €/AWU which would not be doable in any case as it would request more than 66 billions euros to finance such a scheme (to be compared to the 44 b€ of 1st pillar budget!). 

In the EU, current 1st pillar budget is equivalent to 5336 €/AWU.

Here below is a first estimation of what would imply such a proposal in terms of 1st pillar repartition between Member states (in case of a 8000 €/AWU and of a 5336 €/AWU) as well as estimated impact on farms’ incomes. The « proposal »  has been simulated for French farms of respectively 60 ha (and 1 AWU), 100 ha and 200 ha (1AWU) and 200ha with 2AWU. 

Figures speak by themselves!

The idea of farmers receiving a kind of “social minimum income” with as a result a farming sector loosing its competitiveness and the UE most of the added value generated by its agri-food sectors seems quite strange.