The Ombudsman has opened an inquiry into how the European Commission works on 'urgent' legislative proposals, such as the recent amendment to the EU's Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). The inquiry also concerns how the Commission assesses whether its proposals are consistent with the climate-neutrality goals of the European Climate Law.

Environmental organisations raised concerns with the Ombudsman about how the Commission prepared the CAP proposal, which was adopted earlier this year and aims to provide farmers with greater flexibility in complying with EU environmental protection rules.

The organisations questioned whether the Commission had sufficiently examined whether the changes affected the long-term environmental sustainability of EU agriculture. They also questioned whether the public had been appropriately consulted on the Commission’s legislative proposal. This step is required under the Commission’s internal ‘Better Regulation Guidelines and Toolbox’.

As a first step, the Ombudsman has asked the Commission to reply to a series of questions. These include whether it has internal procedures for deciding on whether to bypass impact assessment requirements for urgent legislative proposals and how it observes the principle of evidence-based decision-making in these circumstances.

The Ombudsman has asked the Commission to reply by 16 December 2024.