Brussels, 21/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 18 February, experts from the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) gave quite a warm welcome to the Irish presidency's document on some of the aspects of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform linked to direct payments.
The presidency document involves internal convergence (aid distribution within the same country), flexibility elements and “redistributive” payments (a complement to a basic payment for the first hectares on a farm, which takes into account optimum numbers of workers on small farms). The presidency aimed to clarify member states' options, in an effort to improve preparations for the public debate at the Agriculture Council, which will be focusing on this theme on Monday 25 February.
The majority of delegations were generally in favour of the presidency text (partly in favour of the many different options proposed), even though a large majority of countries expressed a wish not to comment before the Council debate. For a lot of countries, internal convergence remains an eminently political point to be broached by European agriculture ministers. Certain member states (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc.) have repeated that they want to continue to use the SAPS system (single payment for surface area system) in order to have greater differentiation of payments for producers. Other countries, such as Italy and Denmark, have underlined their preference for a gradual introduction of internal convergence. Some countries, like France and Italy, are concerned about the allocation of payment rights to farmers who have until now been excluded from them, such as wine producers. Most member states at the SCA had questions regarding the redistributive payment. France and Germany, for example, find the mechanism complex. Some delegations (France, Italy, etc.) suggested the use of a European Parliament agriculture committee amendment on these redistributive payments.
Small farmers. The presidency continued work on the simplification of procedures for granting this aid to small farmers. The presidency is in favour of a voluntary system (whereas the Commission is arguing for a compulsory system), which appears to suit a majority of member states (Germany, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands etc.). Some of the countries that did not agree with the voluntary nature of the system supported the proposed compromise. This was particularly the case with Spain. Some countries (Italy, Hungary, Portugal, etc.) said that reintroducing the demand annually, as suggested in the presidency proposal, did not make sense from a simplification point of view. Several delegations (Belgium, Germany, Denmark, United Kingdom, Finland, Netherlands, etc.) did not consider it necessary that small farmers be excluded from eco-conditionality (the granting of aid on the basis of respecting certain standards, particularly in the environmental field). The presidency considers that an agreement was reached at the SCA on the simplification measures. (LC/transl.fl)