Brussels, 18/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday 16 June, the agriculture ministers of the countries of the EU took stock of how the member states wish to implement the new common agriculture policy (CAP).
The reform provides elements of flexibility to apply the new direct payments, and the Greek Presidency and the European Commission stressed that the ministers should keep each other informed of how they intend to use this flexibility at national level. Dacian Ciolos, European Commissioner for Agriculture, said that “by early August, the member states should take certain decisions on how they will use these elements of flexibility - or not”.
“What I have heard from the EU countries is in line with what the regulation on CAP lays down”, said Ciolos in reply to questions from the press. This flexibility is there to ensure an implementation in line with the specific national and regional conditions, “but the objectives of the CAP remain Community objectives”, he warned. The CAP has Community objectives and the Commission will use “indicators” to measure the impact of the implementation of the CAP in order to see how the objectives will be achieved, Ciolos added.
The ministers provided a few clarifications on their choices. For example, Germany spoke of plans to transfer 4.5% from the first pillar (direct aid and market expenditure) to the second (rural development). Germany, like France, intends to use a redistributive payment (premium for the first certain number of hectares). Berlin is opposed to the coupling and limiting of aid.
In Flanders, Belgium plans to transfer 5% from the first pillar to the second (plus 1% a year, or up to around 10%), but will not do the same in Wallonia.
The United Kingdom will move 10.759% of the national envelope from the first pillar to the second (but with different percentages in the four regions, from 15% in England to zero in Northern Ireland). Latvia will transfer 7.46% from the first pillar of the CAP to the second.
Poland plans to transfer 25% from the second pillar to the first, Slovakia 21.31% (from the second pillar to the first) and Hungary 15% (from the second pillar to the first) for 2015-2010. Croatia will transfer 15% from the second pillar to the first.
France will transfer 3% from the first pillar to the second for 2015 and 3.3% thereafter. It will adopt aid coupled to production at a level of 13% of the first-pillar budget (in other words, the maximum allowed), 2% of which has been earmarked specifically for protein crops.
Ireland and Greece will limit aid to large businesses (above €150,000).
Spain is planning a regionalisation model in line with agricultural criteria (climate conditions).
For the redistribution, Sweden will have a kind of single payment per hectare. Other countries intend to use this internal redistribution to limit the losses from the convergence of aid (Ireland, Spain, Greece and Italy), but with a minimum convergence. In Italy, for example, everybody will receive at least 60% of the average amount.
Spain, Poland and Lithuania reported that they had a problem with the notion of active farmer. Under the reform, only active farmers will receive aid to income (there is a list of excluded activities).
In his speech before the ministers, Ciolos said that the new CAP offered “a set of tools to adapt the level of direct payments to the reality of each region”. The greater degree of flexibility offered by the new CAP is an opportunity to tackle the sectorial and environmental challenges of every area, the Commission stressed. However, Ciolos said that the flexibility available under the new CAP should be used “to work towards achieving our common objectives, not forgetting our objectives of transparency, simplification and good management”.
On 16 December 2013, the Council of the EU formally adopted the four base regulations reforming the CAP, as well as transition rules for 2014. On 20 December 2013, the four base regulations and the transition rules were published in the Official Journal of the EU.
Amongst other things, the new CAP builds in: - the greening of certain aid (30% of direct payments linked to three environmentally-friendly farming practices: crop diversification, maintaining permanent grassland and conserving 5% and, later, 7% of areas of ecological interest as of 2018; - a fairer distribution of direct payments between the member states, regions and farmers (end of historic references); - obligatory aid to young farmers (an additional 25% of aid for the first five years); - enhanced support to less-favoured areas (optional aid); - coupled payments (optional) for a limited number of productions, with specific coupling of 2% for vegetable crops in order to reduce the level of EU dependency on imports in this area. (LC)