Laroche Dupraz, Catherine

French choices regarding the convergence of decoupled CAP payments for 2019 - 2019.


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The 2014-2020 CAP aims at reducing disparities among first pillar direct payments per hectare in each member state by applying a convergence principle to the “basic payment scheme.” However, this basic payment is complemented with the greening payment and the provisional redistributive payment, the amounts of which depend on the national choices made to implement the CAP. Using a FADN-based simulator calibrated for France, the authors show that tools directly intended for convergence have in fact a limited impact on their own, while other policy cursors may have stronger implications on the reduction of disparities among total decoupled payments per hectare or per farm. Policy choices made by France reflect a compromise between ambitious per hectare convergence goals and merely leaving the hierarchy of decoupled payments beneficiaries per farm unchanged.