Open letter to the European Commission requesting improved transparency in the assessment and approval of the revised Rural Development Programmes and future CAP Strategic Plans

ClientEarth and BirdLife criticize the European Commission for failing to publish observation letters during the approval of revised Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), arguing this opacity prevents public scrutiny of how recovery funds are used for the European Green Deal. They demand that the Commission publish remaining observations and ensure that future CAP Strategic Plans are made public early enough in the decision-making process for citizens to participate.

• The European Commission refused to publish observation letters regarding draft revised Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) while decision-making was ongoing, which the authors argue hindered public scrutiny and participation.
• The authors contend that the lack of transparency regarding the distribution of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) recovery budget—which was increased by €7.5 billion—risks the fund's ability to contribute to the European Green Deal.
• The European Commission is accused of breaching Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 by delaying responses to access-to-documents requests, providing documents for five countries only after the related RDP amendments were already approved.
• The authors call for the Commission to fulfill a commitment made on 10 May 2021 by Commissioner Wojciechowski to make the Commission's objections to draft CAP Strategic Plans public, emphasizing that this must happen early in the process to allow for citizen input.

APA

ClientEarth (2021). Open letter to the European Commission requesting improved transparency in the assessment and approval of the revised Rural Development Programmes and future CAP Strategic Plans. https://www.clientearth.org/media/hjflpy5t/open-letter-to-the-european-commission-requesting-improved-transparency-in-the-assessment-and-approval-of-the-revised-rural-development-programmes-and-future-cap-strategic-plans.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Open letter to the European Commission requesting improved transparency in the assessment and approval of the revised Rural Development Programmes and future CAP Strategic Plans. 2021. https://www.clientearth.org/media/hjflpy5t/open-letter-to-the-european-commission-requesting-improved-transparency-in-the-assessment-and-approval-of-the-revised-rural-development-programmes-and-future-cap-strategic-plans.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=Open letter to the European Commission requesting improved transparency in the assessment and approval of the revised Rural Development Programmes and future CAP Strategic Plans |date=4 October 2021 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/hjflpy5t/open-letter-to-the-european-commission-requesting-improved-transparency-in-the-assessment-and-approval-of-the-revised-rural-development-programmes-and-future-cap-strategic-plans.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearth2021open, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Open letter to the European Commission requesting improved transparency in the assessment and approval of the revised Rural Development Programmes and future CAP Strategic Plans}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/hjflpy5t/open-letter-to-the-european-commission-requesting-improved-transparency-in-the-assessment-and-approval-of-the-revised-rural-development-programmes-and-future-cap-strategic-plans.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }