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Given the significance of agricultural abstraction pressures on European water bodies, it is essential that future agricultural policy interventions do not only work in synergy with water policies but also actively support them. The main funding scheme under the CAP, i.e. the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, is an income support scheme, which has largely contributed to an intensification of agricultural practices in Europe, including of irrigation water use (EEA, 2020 – upcoming EEA W&A report). Recent reforms have reduced negative incentives from CAP payments, although there is still limited support to transition to more sustainable and resilient forms of farming, such as agro-ecology and organic farming (EEA, 2020 – upcoming EEA W&A report). The new CAP programming cycle for 2021-2030 provides fresh opportunity to integrate more ambitious environmental safeguards that acknowledge local water resource limitations and scarcity situations.