Brussels, 29/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - The EU and Croatia successfully closed the agriculture and rural development chapter of the accession negotiations on 19 April. Croatia will receive a relatively modest direct aid envelope, similar to what is received by Lithuania and Slovakia.
The EU common position sets out the principles governing the making of financial payments to Croatia in agriculture and rural development. The final figures will be set in the budget chapter, to be completed at the end of the accession negotiations. As at the previous enlargement, there will be a 10-year transition period for Croatia during which time direct payments will be phased in gradually. The EU common position sets the maximum annual amount in direct aid to be received by Croatia at €373 million, and the phasing-in will start at 25% of this amount. By way of comparison, roughly similar amounts are received by Lithuania (€380 million) and Slovakia (€388 million).
Derogations and transitional periods. The EU acceded to a number of requests from Croatia. These relate mainly to rural development and refer to the short programming period (until the end of 2013 when the current multi-annual financial framework runs out), and are not extraordinary derogations. They cover transition periods, for example, on the import of raw sugar, the principle of cross-compliance of aid (aid is paid on condition that certain criteria are met), the continued use of certain products until stocks run out and the use of rural development funding for complementary national payments.
Agricultural land. The issue of foreigners purchasing land in Croatia was dealt with in the chapter on the free movement of capital. With regard to agricultural land, the EU granted Croatia a seven-year transition period when it will be able to ban the purchase of agricultural land by persons from the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). Provision has also been made for possibly extending this derogation by a further period of three years, perhaps limiting it to specific geographic areas that are particularly affected. The European Commission recently allowed Lithuania and Slovakia to extend restrictions on the sale of agricultural land to foreigners until 2014, in order to avoid potential speculation.
No derogations for laying hens. Animal health issues were broached in the food safety and veterinary policy chapter. Croatia will have to apply EU rules from Day One of its accession to the Union. These rules will include the new directive on laying hens. Directive 1999/74/EC lays down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens and provides for a ban on keeping laying hens in unenriched cages with effect from 1 January 2012. Unenriched cages are those which fail to comply with a number of minimum standards (space between birds, nests, bedding and perches). After accession, Croatia will, however, be able to continue to keep laying hens in existing cages which do not meet the standards of the acquis communautaire, but only until the end of those production cycles which began prior to the date of Croatia's accession to the EU (that is, for a period of up to 12 months from accession). The eggs from farms where cages do not match EU rules will only be allowed to be marketed in Croatia. (L.C./transl.rt)