Brussels, 23/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - Discussions on the facets of the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) relating to young farmers made some progress at the last meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 21 May. The Danish Presidency of the Council of Ministers unveiled a proposal on how to define what constitutes an active farmer (an issue discussed at the Agriculture Council on 26 April), giving member states the choice between: - reference to an open negative list (new proposal from the Commission) establishing non-agricultural activities, with the farmers concerned being responsible for demonstrating that they are genuinely engaged in farming; - the use of objective criteria (such as minimum conditions for granting direct payments) that would make it possible to exclude those who engage no more than marginally in farming. The Presidency proposes that such exclusions apply only to farms receiving more than €5,000 in direct payments.
Most member states in the CSA came out in favour of the negative list which should be either optional (according to the United Kingdom and Sweden, for example) or to which countries will add their own criteria (remark by Germany, Hungary, Finland and Greece notably). The €5,000 limit might also be optional, a number of countries, including the Baltic States, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, argued.
The Presidency proposed the following amendments on aid to young farmers: - the aid scheme should be voluntary; - if so desired, countries should be able to put in place additional criteria so that the scheme can work regionally or nationally (taking account of rural development criteria); - adjusting the calculation of the area payment; - countries should be able to use their national reserves to fund any overshoot of the scheme ceiling (2%). Most delegations supported the Presidency's proposals, especially on setting up additional criteria. Many countries, however, were critical of, or proffered suggestions on, arrangements for calculating area payments. (LC/transl.rt)