The Commission, in its proposals to reform the CAP post-2013, seeks to put an end to historic payments to farmers and move towards an area-based system across the EU. This will mean that all Member States or regions that have not done the transition to a full area-based system yet will have to do so by 2019 if the proposals stay unchanged, and flatten their payment entitlements internally.

Phasing out the historic model within the next financial framework has been one of the key priorities of the ALDE group in this CAP reform process.

The aim of the seminar is to gather evidence from regions/Member States where the system has already been changed: England and Germany have been chosen. We hope to be able to draw lessons from their experience for a wider EU implementation of this change to be made as smooth as possible.

This will provide guidance on the length of the transition period needed, the pace at which changes can be made, the redistribution of payments it entails between farmers on a territory, the consequences it has on a sector basis and the mistakes to avoid when setting up the new entitlement system.