Brussels, 02/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - In order to prevent the committee on agriculture of the European Parliament from rejecting certain texts on the delegated acts to implement the reform of the common agriculture policy (CAP) when it votes on the issue on 7 April, the European Commission agreed on Wednesday 2 April to water its proposals down a little (see EUROPE 11042).
In a declaration adopted by the College of Commissioners, the European Commission gave in to the insurrection of the MEPs by increasing the weighting factor for areas cultivated with catch crops and nitrogen-fixing crops for calculating the ecological focus area (one of the aspects of the greening of agricultural aid). In this declaration, the Commission states that one hectare of these crops (such as alfalfa, for example) can be counted (in terms of ecological focus area) as 0.7 hectares (ha) instead of 0.3 ha in the previous version of the text on the delegated acts.
The Commission adds that, if required, it will be possible to improve the delegated acts after a year of implementation. It stresses that it will be the responsibility of the member states to define the crops which can be recognised as ecological focus area and the associated practices. However, “if the obligation to respect these ecological focus areas leads to a considerable reduction of the EU's production potential, the delegated act in question will be revised”, the Commission states. Acts will also be revised if distortions emerge between the member states. (LC)