Brussels, 23/04/2010 (Agence Europe) -COPA (the Committee of Professional Agriculture Organisations in the EU) and COGECA (General Confederation of Farm Cooperatives in the EU) published a paper on Friday 23 April 2010 on the review of the EU aid system for disadvantaged areas and the new definition of “intermediate” disadvantaged areas, pointing out the key role that this aid plays in ensuring jobs are not lost in the countryside in the EU.
In April 2009, the European Commission started working on a new classification system for farming areas with natural handicaps (see EUROPE 9886). It laid down eight criteria connected with the soil and the climate in order to reach an objective and detailed classification of disadvantaged areas and it called on member states to submit simulations of the use of the new classifications. While awaiting the introduction of the new classification system (due in 2014), the current measures will remain in place. The review does not cover mountainous areas (already classified under objective EU criteria) or areas with specific disadvantages (like islands and coastal regions). On 22 June, the Agriculture Council published a conclusions document on this issue which, despite listing a number of criticisms of the suggested criteria, took note of the scientific approach used by the Commission in drawing up an EU methodology to determine in a simple and transparent manner whether areas suffer from significant natural handicaps (see EUROPE 9926). The Commission will publish draft changes to the aid system for disadvantaged regions as part of the post-2013 reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).
Pekka Pesonen, COPA-COGECA secretary general, argues that the aid for disadvantaged regions should continue. COPA-COGECA has expressed concern at the fact that some of today's disadvantaged areas would not be classified as such using the new criteria. It regrets the lack of any reference to geographical handicaps, like isolation, which are one of the main problems facing disadvantaged areas. The EU farm lobby is therefore calling for a cautious and in-depth assessment of the recommended criteria; consideration of the option of using additional criteria; and a review of the recommended criteria if the simulations submitted by the member states show that the criteria will not meet the desired aim of classifying disadvantaged regions in a coherent, transparent and objective manner.
At its plenary in Brussels on 5 and 6 May, the European Parliament will be voting on a report by Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy) on agriculture in naturally handicapped regions. During a short debate on 19 April 2010, MEPs expressed the fears in some farm circles that regions might lose their disadvantaged status and therefore lose the right to aid for disadvantaged regions. The report notes that introducing the eight biophysical criteria recommended by the European Commission would not always serve to determine naturally handicapped areas in an objective manner. Like COPA-COGECA, the rapporteur believes that including a geographical criterion of “isolation” would cover the special natural disadvantage of being located at a great distance from services and the market. (L.C./transl.fl)