Making the CAP fit: Responding to the exploitation of migrant agricultural workers in the EU

Much work in primary agricultural production is low-skill, temporary and seasonal in nature, and in the EU it attracts a large proportion of migrant workers, both from within and outside the Union. Work is often precarious, and cases of rights infringements, exploitation and forced labour have been reported across the Union. A recent step by the EU has been to confront these problems through immigration law, with the adoption in February 2014 of the Seasonal Workers Directive, which creates narrowly drawn possibilities for a legal right to work and reside for third-country nationals undertaking seasonal work. Reflecting on the tendency in practice for immigration status to trump employment rights, this article argues that a more effective response could be found within the EU's longstanding Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Farm subsidies are conditional on compliance with a body of existing EU legislation, in respect to environmental protection, public health and animal welfare. While highlighting the limited engagement with social concerns to date under the CAP, it is argued that space should be made for social conditionality in the CAP, with subsidies made conditional on respect for employment rights for all workers