With 425 votes in favour, 130 against and 33 abstentions, MEPs adopted the text already negotiated with the member states on the European Commission proposal in response to demands from the sector, which have been voiced throughout the European Union (EU). The revision changes the rules on three environmental conditionalities that farmers must respect to receive funding, also providing greater flexibility for EU countries to grant exemptions to CAP rules if there are problems with their application and in the event of extreme weather conditions. The environmental rules that have been relaxed relate, in particular, to set-aside obligations and crop diversification, with farms of up to ten hectares now exempt from controls and penalties for non-compliance with some CAP rules. The procedure for amending the Common Agricultural Policy national strategic plans for the member states is also simplified. The EU Council will vote on the proposal, for its part, at the meeting of the relevant ministers, scheduled for Monday in Luxembourg, where the bloc's ministers meet three months a year: April, June and October. The proposal was dealt with under the urgent procedure, so that it could be adopted during this parliamentary term, in order to respond to the crisis in the sector, which has led to strong protests by farmers in several countries, including Portugal. In a statement, the environmental organisation Greenpeace warned that the rules protecting nature and soil quality on farms are being eliminated, putting the EU's capacity to feed future generations at risk. Greenpeace also warned that the farms that are exempt from environmental controls total almost 17 million hectares, the size of Germany. Read Also: MEPs approve EU law to combat violence against women (Portuguese version)