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The European Union and the United States have concluded negotiations on an adjustment of the EU's agricultural quotas within the World Trade Organization (WTO). In connection with the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the EU, the two-year negotiations on the allocation of EU quotas within the WTO were concluded. The original volume of quotas, covering, inter alia, beef and poultry, rice, dairy products, fruit, vegetables, and wine, is maintained but is divided between the EU - 27 and the UK. The agreement will enter into force after its adoption by the Commission and subsequent ratification by the Council and the European Parliament.
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Portugal is preparing a so-called "super trialogue" on the CAP under its presidency, a trialogue during which all three parts of the CAP package should be discussed at the same time - Strategic Plans, Horizontal Issues, and the Common Market Organization. According to current information, the super trialogue could take place at the end of March, probably 26/03/2021, i.e., a few days after the meeting of the Council of Agriculture Ministers (22-23/03/2021). Portugal still hopes to reach an agreement on CAP reform during the second / third week of May, so according to Portuguese Agriculture Minister Marie do Céu Antunes, March will be a key month for the CAP negotiations. However, representatives of the European Parliament consider it unlikely that an agreement on the CAP will be reached during May 2021. Preparations for the super trialogue should take place on 08/03/2021 during a meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA).
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On 01/03/2021, German Minister of Agriculture Julia Klöckner presented a draft of the German CAP Strategic Plan for the setting of agricultural policy after 2023. The draft envisages further strengthening of redistributive payments, the budget for them should increase from the current 7% to 10% of the envelope for direct payments. Under the current CAP, companies received redistributive payments for the first 30 hectares (€50 / hectare) and for the next 16 hectares (€30 / hectare). From 2023, after a transitional period, redistributive payments should be made for the first 40 hectares (approximately €62 / hectare) and for the next 20 hectares (approximately €37 / hectare). Enterprises over 300 hectares should be excluded from redistributive payments. The total amount allocated to redistributive payments should increase by €122 million to a total of €452 million per year. Germany no longer considers the introduction of mandatory capping of direct payments but proposes the introduction of degressivity for amounts between €60,000 and €100,000 (by 5%) and for amounts above €100,000 (by 10%). Related companies should be considered as one beneficiary, staff costs should not be deducted from degressivity due to high administrative complexity. Funds obtained from degressivity should be transferred to the second CAP pillar. Germany proposes not to introduce a definition of real or active farmer, the calculation of direct payments should be based on the registered eligible area. Around €900 million per year should be allocated to measures to protect the climate, conserve biodiversity, conserve natural resources, and improve animal welfare, and 20% of the envelope for direct payments should be allocated to eco-schemes. At least 3% of the arable land of each agricultural holding should be set aside for non-productive and landscape features, and the cultivation of catch crops should not be allowed in these areas. According to the German proposal, young farmers could receive additional higher payments per first hectare, according to the proposal for the first 120 hectares (90 hectares in the current CAP) up to €70 / hectare. The proposal must now be approved by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and will then be submitted to the European Commission for approval. Germany plans to approve the proposal at national level by the end of the first half of 2021.
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On 01/03/2021, Austria submitted a proposal to strengthen the implementation of national legislation governing the working conditions of employees under the new CAP, which was submitted to the Special Committee on Agriculture. According to the Austrian proposal, the strengthening of implementation could take place based on a two-stage procedure - first, the role of the Agricultural Advisory Services should be strengthened (these should reflect the guidelines of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work); attention should be focused on assessing compliance and implementation of the rules. The evaluation should take place three years after the implementation of the new CAP rules. The evaluation report should then be discussed at the level of representatives of the European institutions to assess whether strengthening the role of Counselling Services has helped to implement and comply with the rules governing working conditions in individual EU Member States. The Austrian proposal, which was submitted in response to the proposals to introduce so-called social conditionality, i.e., making direct payments conditional on compliance with working conditions rules (at EU level), was also supported by BE, BG, HR, CY, CZ, FI, EL, HU, LV, MT, RO, and SK, during the discussion it was also supported by NL and EE. However, some big states, including France and Spain, are more inclined to a European solution to social conditionality.

The European institutions continue to hold separate trialogues on the various parts of the CAP reform package, namely the Strategic Plans, the Horizontal Issues, and the Common Market Organization. As part of the negotiations on Horizontal Issues, the institutions are currently leading a trialogue on the issue of monitoring compliance with the rules of enhanced cross compliance. According to the European Parliament, the number of farmers who will be checked for compliance with cross-compliance rules should be increased to 5%. However, the Council insists on maintaining the status quo, i.e., controlling 1% of farmers, to avoid unnecessary administrative burdens. Representatives of the European Parliament have therefore proposed a compromise of 2.5%, but the Council does not yet have a mandate from EU Member States to increase the number of controls to more than 1%, so negotiations are lengthy and complicated, according to European Parliament representatives.