Brussels, 26/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - In a joint declaration sent to the Secretariat General of the Council on Tuesday 26 March, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania emphasised that the agreement on reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) reached on 18 March, and particularly the percentage increases in coupled aid from 5% to 7% and from 10% to 12% according to specific situations, constitutes “the first stage in a negotiating process”. Coupled aid is bonus payments linked to production and go against the general trend to uncouple aid.
These member states have received the backing of Slovenia and Slovakia and have reaffirmed their desire to find a more ambitious solution to this issue. They have stated their support for the European Parliament's amendments that envisage up to 15% of payments being coupled for all member states, as well as possible additional support of 3% for protein seed crops.
Stéphane Le Foll, the French minister for agriculture, welcomed this progress, which he described as “an historic turning point and break with aid uncoupling that has prevailed since 1992”. He also expressed his wish to see this position defended by the Irish presidency, in line with the position of parliament on the subject, during the forthcoming trialogue discussions.
Council mandate confirmed at experts' level - divergences on financial discipline
At the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) meeting on Monday 25 March, experts from EU countries confirmed the negotiating brief given to the Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, based on the Council's general approach on 19 March last. Nonetheless, the delegations amended certain points of the agreement.
The delegations were divided over the interpretation of the agreement that relates to Article 8 (financial discipline) of the regulation on direct payments. Linking this text with the European Council conclusions on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2013 has prompted debate. It should be noted that the 19 March agreement at the Agriculture Council provides for the reduction of aid and financing a crisis reserve fund as part of financial discipline to be applied from a €2000 threshold (that is to say, farms that receive less than €2000 are not affected). Six member states - Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Slovenia and Romania - have signed a common declaration in which they state that paragraph 66 of the agreement on the financial framework is compatible with the €5000 exemption threshold. On the other hand, other countries (Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, in particular) consider that the very existence of a threshold (whatever its level) would mean differing from the conclusions of the European Council (where no mention of a threshold is made). Consequently, they are calling for this paragraph to be put into brackets or for a footnote to be added.
Some countries (Italy, the United Kingdom and Belgium) pointed out that according to the Council's general approach, it had been agreed that regionalisation covered all the different texts of the package on reform. They believe that this has not been taken into account in the current texts.
Countries like Hungary and Slovakia believe that the percentage of coupled aid could be increased to 15%, in line with the EP's position on the subject.
Other delegations (Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, in particular) would like to reintroduce the possibility of revising reference prices into the text. The Council's general approach does not provide for this and the EP is, therefore, requesting a review of reference prices for bovine meat and olive oil.
Examining the EP amendments
Several member states, including France and Italy, have suggested that the Council (within a specific workgroup or at the SCA) examine the new amendments introduced by the EP during the plenary vote on 13 March (only the amendments ratified at the level of the EP agriculture committee are discussed at the SCA and in the workgroups). These delegations say that the Council could support certain EP amendments during the negotiations between the institutions due to begin on 11 April.
Finally, several countries (including France, Italy, Czech Republic and Austria) have called on the Irish Presidency to provide an account of the progress made on the “aid and reimbursements” regulation under Article 43(3) [the exclusive competency of the Council]. The SCA examined this matter in 2012. The Irish Presidency says that the subject (which is not one for co-decision with the EP) will be debated at a later date. Nevertheless, this is still a sensitive issue that is dividing the Council and the EP. (LC/transl.fl)