Skip to content
OPINION (COM(2025)0565 – C100179/2025 – 2025/0240(COD))

On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Fund for economic, social and territorial cohesion, agriculture and rural, fisheries and maritime, prosperity and security for the period 2028-2034

ENVI-AD-782326

Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety · Rapporteur: Marta Temido

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull textProcedure & committee votes
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 25 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

The Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety proposes amendments to the proposed regulation establishing the European Fund for cohesion, agriculture, fisheries and maritime policy, prosperity and security for 2028-2034. It asks that the Fund include just transition as a general objective and anchor climate neutrality, biodiversity restoration and One Health in its approval criteria, targets and review clauses. It wants a prevention-first principle, full application of the 'do no significant harm' principle with exclusions for fossil fuel investments, and safeguards against backsliding. It seeks to preserve LIFE actions with dedicated funding, require urban greening plans for cities above 50 000 inhabitants, and strengthen One Health, zoonoses and antimicrobial resistance measures. It also proposes changes to the Social Climate Fund integration, partnership rules, crisis payments, CAP definitions and monitoring, and shifts approval of national plans from Council implementing decisions to Commission delegated acts.

Committee position. The committee proposes amendments to strengthen environmental, climate, biodiversity and health safeguards in the Fund, including a prevention-first principle, full application of 'do no significant harm', preservation of LIFE funding, mandatory urban greening plans and operationalisation of One Health.

Key points

  1. The Fund must include just transition as a general objective and operational obligations anchoring climate neutrality, biodiversity restoration and One Health in approval criteria, targets and review clauses.
  2. Alignment with the Union's 2030 and 2040 climate targets and climate neutrality by 2050 must guide programming, with a prevention-first principle favouring action at source over downstream mitigation.
  3. The 'do no significant harm' principle must apply across all instruments, with exclusions for fossil fuel investments and no fallback to less stringent approaches; exemptions must be evidence-justified by the Commission.
  4. LIFE actions must be preserved with dedicated funding of EUR 3 390 000 000 under the European Competitiveness Fund and EUR 3 559 000 000 under the EU Facility, with multiannual work programmes and direct grants.
  5. The Fund should provide transparency on climate and biodiversity spending and preserve the Social Climate Fund regulation, with its eligibility criteria safeguarded.
  6. One Health must be operationalised through plan requirements, screening criteria and indicators addressing zoonotic disease prevention, antimicrobial resistance reduction and environmental determinants of health.
  7. Urban areas with more than 50 000 inhabitants must provide urban greening plans within national climate adaptation frameworks; areas with more than 20 000 inhabitants may participate voluntarily.
  8. Member States must design plans respecting the precautionary principle, the partnership principle and the 'do no significant harm' principle, and the Commission must ensure no backsliding in environmental and social standards.
  9. The Commission should assess policy coherence within and between plans, identifying externalities, double expenditure and carbon leakage risks, and verify no backsliding compared to the previous programming period.
  10. Crisis payments must not replace preventive structural measures; beneficiaries should have implemented risk management or preventive measures where feasible before the crisis.
  11. The Commission should adopt delegated acts to approve national plans instead of proposing Council implementing decisions, and financing decisions for LIFE actions should be dedicated and multiannual.
  12. The CAP should support resilient production systems with measurable improvements in climate, environmental, biodiversity and animal welfare performance, and Member States should define minimum thresholds for agricultural activity.

Who is affected

  • Member States, which must design plans respecting environmental law, partnership and prevention-first principles, and submit them by 31 January 2028.
  • Farmers and agricultural holdings, which face new definitions, animal welfare requirements and support rates, with proportionality for small and medium-sized holdings.
  • Urban areas with more than 50 000 inhabitants, which must provide urban greening plans within national climate adaptation frameworks.
  • Civil society organisations, which should participate meaningfully in plan design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
  • Beneficiaries of Fund support, who should have fair access to funding, reduced administrative burdens and effective remedies.

Figures and deadlines

  • EUR 3 390 000 000 in current prices (equivalent to EUR 3 billion in 2025 constant prices) for LIFE actions under the European Competitiveness Fund.
  • EUR 3 559 000 000 dedicated funding for LIFE-related actions under the EU Facility.
  • Urban areas with more than 50 000 inhabitants must provide urban greening plans; areas with more than 20 000 inhabitants may participate voluntarily.
  • Member States should submit NRP Plans by 31 January 2028, with draft plans possible from June 2027.
  • The Commission shall assess plans within four months of submission.
  • Amendments to NRP Plans in crisis situations shall be approved within a maximum of 10 working days.
  • Maximum support rate for farmer investments shall be 75% of eligible costs; 85% for young farmers.
  • Support for non-productive investments serving environmental, climate or biodiversity objectives may cover up to 100% of eligible expenditure.

Legal basis: Article 177 TFEU, Article 191 TFEU, Article 5 TEU, Article 148(4) TFEU, Article 177(2) TFEU, Article 191(2) TFEU.