Brussels, 14/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - Several delegations expressed the view at the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 13 February that the European Commission proposals on direct aid and market measures (within the framework of reform of the common agricultural policy - CAP) do nothing to simplify the rules.
On direct aid, many countries felt that the greening of CAP aid, as proposed by the Commission, could mean far more red tape (a remark made by, inter alia, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and Sweden), for example, with regard to monitoring (this was highlighted by Spain, Hungary, France, Finland and Ireland), because of the measures it will impose on land management. Elsewhere, while countries acknowledged that exemption measures planned for direct payments to small farms could simplify the lives of 30% of farmers (3% of cultivable land), many (France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland and Finland) have concerns about the administrative load that might be implied and would prefer the measures to be optional. According to some delegations, two further issues could make the direct aid system more complex, largely because of the monitoring involved: the concept of “active farmer” (remark made by Poland, Italy, Ireland, France and Bulgaria) and the capping of aid (a concern for the UK and the Czech Republic). With regard to market measures, the Commission believes that ending quotas (for sugar and milk) will simplify things. Several countries are against the ending of sugar quotas in 2015, however. The Agriculture Council will discuss simplification of CAP rules on 19 March. (LC/transl.rt)