Brussels, 11/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - The common agriculture policy (CAP) has been saved, following the agreement at the European Council on the budget 2014-2020, even though a number of cuts, particularly in the rural development expenditure, are to be regretted. Many voices were also raised in criticism at the cuts to the envelope for the distribution of food to the poorest people in the EU.
“If confirmed by the European Parliament, this agreement paves the way to the final phase of the CAP reform”, commented Dacian Ciolos, European Commissioner for Agriculture. “The Commission proposals have enabled us to justify a significant budget”, he said. He added that for the forthcoming negotiations, four points will be particularly important: “a better targeting of direct payments; credible greening which delivers genuine environmental benefits; strong support to jobs, in particular for the young generation; and solid actions to strengthen the rural areas and farmers' organisations”.
The European Commissioner balanced his comments by adding that: “Nevertheless, the CAP has been part of the overall effort to reduce public spending. I regret in particular the cuts in the rural development budget”.
French Minister for Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, said that the CAP had been “saved” by the agreement. It took a fight to keep the budget at an acceptable level and France had succeeded in “bringing the budget back up”, he explained. France feels that the CAP budget for the period 2014-2020 “has been kept at a level which is very close to the current period”, with 56 billion constant euro, he said. According to France, progress has been made, as the draft put to the European Council in November provided for a cut of €21 billion compared to the European Commission's proposal. In the end, the CAP envelope has been reduced by 4% compared to the Commission's proposal, the French Agriculture Minister explained. France has succeeded in securing itself a revision of €1.25 billion euros more than the last Commission proposal, even though the envelope earmarked for agriculture and the CAP for the next seven years (2014-2020) has been cut from €420.7 to €373.5 billion.
However, the agricultural organisations found it a bitter pill to swallow. COPA-COGECA lamented the decision to “cut the share for the common agriculture policy even further in the future European budget for 2014-2020, on top of the cuts already proposed by the European Commission”. This decision will mean a 15% reduction in CAP expenditure, thereby threatening the jobs of 40 million people in the agricultural and food sectors and millions of others in rural areas, COPA-COGECA argues. However, the organisation welcomed the swift agreement, which should make it possible for a decision to be made on the new CAP before June, putting an end to the uncertainty farmers are currently facing.
“Hollande is capitulating and turning his back on farming”, said Michel Dantin (EPP, France). “François Hollande has shown that his presidency no longer allowed France to remain at the centre of Europe and that it was no longer in a position to defend its principal interests”, Dantin lamented. “Whilst Nicolas Sarkozy always firmly defended keeping the CAP budget in place to the nearest euro, François Hollande has clearly given up on this strategic objective for our country, going so far as to oppose agriculture and growth in his speech before the European Parliament this week”, the Savoie MEP continued.
Details of the agreement for agriculture
Overall funding of the CAP. Envelope of €362.79 billion for the entire heading (CAP, fisheries, environment, climate), or a cut of 13.1% compared to 2007-2013 and 3.3% less than the European Commission's proposal (-4.2% when taking account of the agricultural crisis reserve, which will go under the first pillar, rather than be made up outside the financial framework).
Funding of the first pillar of the CAP. Envelope of €277.85 billion for direct payments and market measures, or a cut of 12.9% compared to 2007-2013 and 1.8% from the European Commission's proposal (-3% when taking account of the crisis reserve being brought under the first pillar).
Redistribution of direct support. The average level of the EU of direct payments in current prices per hectare will be cut over the period in question.
Direct support will be divided more fairly among the member states - the differences which continue to exist in salary levels, purchasing power, agricultural sector production and input costs have, however, been taken into account - by means of a gradual reduction in the link to historical references and given the overall context of the CAP and the budget of the Union. Specific circumstances, such as agricultural areas with high added value and cases where the effects of convergence are disproportionately felt, should be taken into account in the overall allocation of support of the CAP.
All member states with direct payments per hectare below 90% of the EU average will close one third of the gap between their current direct payments and 90% of the EU average in the course of the next period. However, all member states should attain at least the level of €196 per hectare in current prices by 2020. This convergence will be financed by all member states with direct payments above the EU average, proportionately to their distance from the EU average. This process will be implemented progressively over six years from financial year 2015 to financial year 2020.
Capping of support to large farms will be “introduced by member states on a voluntary basis”.
Greening of direct payments. In order to finance these practices, the member states will use 30% of the annual national ceiling (of direct payments), with a clearly defined flexibility for the member states with regard to the choice of equivalent greening measures. The requirement to have an ecological focus area on each agricultural holding will be implemented “in ways that do not require the land in question to be taken out of production and that avoids unjustified losses in the income of farmers”.
Flexibility between the two pillars of the CAP. The member states may transfer up to 15% of their envelope for rural development (second pillar) into direct payments over the period 2015-2020, and vice versa (over the period 2014-2019). Member states with direct payments per hectare below 90% of the EU average may decide to make available as direct payments an additional 10% of the amount allocated to support the measures under rural development.
Rural development funding (second pillar). Envelope of €84.93 billion, or a cut of 13.5% compared to 2007-2013 and 7.6% compared to the European Commission's proposal. The annual breakdown will be laid down by the European Parliament and the Council, and the distribution of the overall amount from rural development between the member states “will be based on objective criteria and past performance”.
In addition, member states “experiencing specific structural difficulties in the agricultural sector or which have massively invested in an effective framework for the execution of expenditure under pillar II” will benefit from the following additional allocations: Austria €700 million, France €1 billion, Ireland €100 million, Italy €1.5 billion, Luxembourg €20 million, Malta €32 million, Lithuania €100 million, Latvia €67 million, Estonia €50 million, Portugal €500 million, Cyprus €7 million, Spain €500 million, Belgium €80 million, Slovenia €150 million, Finland €600 million. These additional amounts, which represent a total of €5.556 billion, will not require national co-funding. Similarly, the funding of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) will be 100% for sums transferred from the first pillar to the second.
Crisis reserve for the agriculture sector. This will be integrated in the budgetary chapter devoted to the CAP to the tune of €2.8 billion, compared to €3.5 billion proposed by the Commission. The total amount of the reserve will be directly included in the annual budget; if it is not made available for crisis measures, it will be reimbursed in the form of direct payments.
Poorest people. The aid to the poorest people, for the distribution of food in particular and which will be paid for out of the European Social Fund (ESF), has been set at €2.5 billion for the entire period. According to MEP Rachida Dati (EPP, France), “this is about half as much as the needs assessed by the associations” (€4.5 billion) and less than the €3.5 billion allocated up to now under the current financial framework. (LC/transl.fl)