Brussels, 19/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament (EP) has begun discussions on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) and is looking towards a fairer mechanism on aid convergence and a more realistic (that is, more flexible) greening of direct payments, and the retention of public instruments, particularly in the event of crises. On Monday 18 and Tuesday 19 June, the agriculture committee rapporteurs presented their draft reports on a number of strands of the reform.
Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italy), who chairs the EP agriculture committee, said at a press conference on Tuesday 19 June that the rapporteurs' proposals had garnered substantial majorities, even though differing views will be expressed in debates in September and October. He said the EP's aim was to have a simpler and more flexible CAP which made life simpler for farmers.
Direct payments to farmers. Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos (S&D, Portugal) repeated the main thrust of his draft report (details in EUROPE 10630): - greening of aid in both the first (direct aid) and second (rural development) pillars of the CAP; - improved aid for young farmers (compulsory in the first pillar, optional in the second but with new financial opportunities included in the second, including support for access to land); - an aid degression mechanism (greater than what was proposed by the Commission) and an aid cap for large farms; - simplification measures.
Capoulas Santos believes his proposal on aid convergence to be more generous than the Commission's for those countries which receive less aid than the Community average. For example, for Latvia, which currently gets 35% of the European average, he proposes to double what it receives in direct aid. The same goes for the Baltic states, Romania, Poland and others. For this redistribution mechanism to be fairer, additional effort has to be asked of those countries which receive more than the average. “My proposal is pragmatic, balanced and realistic. I would have liked something even fairer but I have to find a political compromise and try to improve the situation in countries rather than put forward a nice, very generous proposal that will never be approved”, Capoulas Santos said. He proposes that the convergence point for the average level of support per member state, in euro per hectare, should be the actual average and not 90% of the average, as proposed by the Commission. He proposes that member states 70% below the EU average should recover 30% of the difference; those totalling between 70% and 80% of the average should recover 25% of the difference; and those between 80% and the average level should recover 10% of the difference. No member state, under any circumstances, will be below 65% of the EU average. The contributions required for this process should be provided, in the appropriate proportions, by the member states above the EU27 average; and there would be a guarantee that the mechanism, if it were implemented, would not push any of them below the average. Compared with the Commission proposal, countries such as the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium will pay a little less while France and Germany will pay a little more (payment is dependent on national allocations).
The rapporteur suggests greater flexibility on the greening of direct aid by extending the options on eligibility for payment and simplifying how they are put into practice. The flexibility is to be achieved by putting in place measures which allow farmers to receive “green” payment by analogy, through second pillar measures or organic certification of farms and also by bringing in changes which simplify procedures.
Organisation of agricultural product markets. Michel Dantin (EPP, France) proposes “enhancing the powers of producers in market organisation” and wants the Council and EP to adopt provisions which allow the agriculture sector to be exempted from sacrosanct competition rules. He wants farmers to be able to organise freely and to be able to make agreements among themselves so that they will carry greater weight in the sector and market. “My report has been quite well received by the various political groups”, Dantin said. He also calls for the retention of public instruments, particularly in times of serious crisis. He suggests clarifying and simplifying public intervention and market withdrawal mechanisms. He also calls for: - sugar quotas to be maintained until 2020; - planting rights in the wine sector to be restored until 2030.
CAP funding, management and monitoring. Rapporteur Giovanni La Via (EPP, Italy) proposes that member states be able to put in place a warning system under which farmers receiving aid will be sent a warning letter to give them the opportunity to remedy irregularities before administrative penalties are imposed. In his report, sanctions for failure to comply with greening rules will be limited to 30% of the direct payment.
Timetable. The deadline for putting down amendments has been set: 9 and 10 July. De Castro said that the EP agriculture committee will begin discussions with all the political groups in September. It is only after this procedure, which is likely to last two months (September and October) that “we will be able to bring forward our compromise amendments at the end of October or start of November”. Then, “we'll see” what happens in discussions on the 2014-2020 financial framework. There will be no final agriculture committee vote so long as MEPs have no idea of CAP budget allocations, he stated. He highlighted the work that will have to be done with the Council if agreement is to be reached by June of 2013. (LC/transl.rt)