Brussels, 18/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is to put the finishing touches to the texts on the delegated acts implementing the reform of the common agriculture policy (CAP), European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos announced on Monday 17 February.
The European Commission is planning to adopt the delegated acts on the CAP “in early March”. The Council and the European Parliament will have two months to approve or reject these texts.
Ciolos stated that the Commission would remain open, right up to the last minute, to any “properly justified” comment to adapt the delegated acts, but within the limit of what is laid down in the basic acts. The Commission must also respect its decision-making timetable (the EP is due to vote ahead of the elections and the countries must make the decisions required at national level). This is the fourth variation on the texts on the delegated acts and, there may be some “final tweaks” following the debate within the EP and the Council.
The Commission has identified three subjects on which further explanations are required: - start-ups for young farmers: comments have been made on potential restrictions, taking account of the definition of the set-up premiums in the second pillar (rural development); the problem arises when the young farmers set up as a company; - definition of active farmers: some countries are calling for a uniform interpretation at EU level of certain aspects regarding the negative list (entities excluded from entitlement to direct aid) in order to avoid excessively affecting smallholdings which have complementary revenue (tourism, sports activities, etc); - areas of ecological interest: questions have arisen regarding the weighting (what can be considered to be areas of ecological interest); - the proportionality of sanctions (the Commission has proposed solutions which will be included in the texts, said Ciolos).
France cited two priorities (start-ups for young farmers and a matrix for areas of ecological interest). Italy and Spain also have issues over wine. (LC/transl.fl)