Brussels, 15/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - EU agriculture ministers will be meeting in Brussels on Monday 18 March for a session lasting at least two days, aimed at concluding with the adoption of a common “general approach” on the four regulations that make up reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP). Ireland's Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who will chair the meeting, will be submitting a first draft compromise on reform to his colleagues on Monday. The Irish Presidency of the Council has set itself the objective of concluding an agreement during the Council and then beginning negotiations with the European Parliament. Negotiations between institutions will begin on 11 April, with the Presidency hoping to reach an agreement at first reading on CAP reform before the end of its term of office on 30 June. The co-decision agreement should then be confirmed by both institutions. The European Commission will seek to promote a compromise without its proposals being too distorted.
On Monday 18 March, European agriculture ministers will discuss, from the outset of their meeting, a first Presidency compromise on all the regulations for reform of CAP. Trilateral meetings will then be organised between the Presidency, the European Commission and each minister. The following day, an amended compromise will be submitted to the Council before negotiations continue.
The Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers includes in the compromise text changes that received considerable backing during work by experts (of the Special Committee on Agriculture, or SCA), as well as changes intended to resolve concerns still outstanding.
Flexibility on internal convergence. On the direct subsidies regulation, the presidency upholds its suggestion aimed at authorising member states to implement partial convergence by 2019, i.e. not complete convergence, of national or regional payments, and to limit the first stage to 10% of the national or regional ceiling, to use alternative options and to apply it to payments granted under “greening” of the first CAP pillar. New amendments will be put to ministers in order to clarify alternative options and to include the possibility of keeping this in place until 2017 for those member states where the single area payment scheme (SAPS) applies.
Greening. For the greening of direct aid, the Irish Presidency maintains its proposal for the taking into account of the agreement on the EU financial framework for the period 2014-2020. In this case, it is a matter of: - clarifying and adjusting the scope of “equivalent practices” intended to yield an equivalent or higher benefit for the climate and the environment compared to the greening practices proposed by the Commission; - providing for a progressive application of the crop diversification requirements and clarifying the exemptions to that requirement; - adjusting applicable minimum ratios of permanent grassland in relation to the total agricultural area; -allowing for a graduated application of the ecological focus area (EFA), beginning with 3% in the first year; - adjusting the scope of eligible EFA; - and authorising for 50% of those areas implementation at regional level or collectively of requirements by farming groups, and clarifying the factors for weighting as well as exemptions. New amendments explicitly set out the exemptions to requirements for crop diversification and adjust the scope of EFA as well as exemptions.
Transfer between two pillars. The presidency also maintains its proposals on the capping of aid and flexibility between the two pillars of CAP in order to take into account certain aspects of the agreement on the financial framework. A new amendment opens the possibility for adjusting the percentages of fund transfers between the two pillars for each calendar year, and to review the decision.
Sugar and vines. On the subject of the single CMO (common market organisation), changes proposed by the Presidency mainly concern the sugar quota regime, vine plantings and marketing standards. As regards sugar, the Presidency tabled suggestions at the SCA to extend the quota regime until the 2017/2018 marketing year instead of 2016/2017 as initially suggested. The Presidency also clarifies the conditions for the reallocation of quotas to member states that had relinquished all quotas pursuant to the 2006 reform. As regards vine plantings (see related article), amendments provide for the new vine planting authorisation regime to be applicable from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2024, clarifying the procedure for granting these authorisations. Regarding marketing standards, the Presidency maintains its status quo on two outstanding issues: - decision-making procedures for implementing the list of sectors and products to which such standards may be applied and for imposing compulsory labelling to show the place of production and origin. It reintroduces, moreover, in the legislative text, the current requirement on the mandatory origin labelling for the marketing of fresh fruit and vegetables into the legal text.
Greening payments and penalties. The new changes presented by the Presidency for the regulation on CAP financing mainly concern the level of the penalties for not complying with greening criteria. Several member states take the view that not receiving up to 30% of the basic payment is a sufficient deterrent. The Commission is adamant that greening payments should be treated in the same way as all other area-based payment schemes and that the penalty should therefore be set at a maximum of 200% of the green payment. Pointing out that the framework for 2014-2020 makes greening compulsory, the Presidency suggestions include derogation from the rules applying to the other area-based payment schemes, a specific administrative penalty applicable only to the green payment, with its level limited to a maximum of 50% for a given year.
Rural development. As regards the rural development regulation, the Presidency's amendments mainly relate to areas with natural constraints and agri-environment-climate payments. Payments for areas with natural constraints that become ineligible would become degressive by 2016 at the latest, with member states being able to decide to start, and finish, the phasing out earlier. The first degressive payment must be no more than 80% of both the payment envisaged in the current programme and the payment under the new system. To make the delimitation of these areas more flexible, the member states may choose between two systems. Conditions of eligibility are satisfied where at least 60% of the agricultural area meets at least one of the biophysical criteria at 100% of its threshold value or two biophysical criteria at a minimum of 90% of their threshold value. The Presidency also points out that EU experts agreed to open the possibility of accumulating agri-environmental payments under rural development and the green payment of the first pillar.
Potatoes. At the request of the Netherlands, the Council will tackle the subject of the embargo that Russia may set in place on 1 April on European imports of seed potatoes. (LC/transl.jl)