Brussels, 13/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission informed the national experts on the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 9 February that it was not willing to extend the eligibility of expenditure for rural development programmes for the period from 2007 to 2013.
Poland, with the backing of several other member states, including Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, had called for an extension at the Agriculture Council of 15 December last year.
Separate from this, it should be remembered that the Latvian Presidency is hoping for a relatively speedy agreement on the proposal revising the 2014-2020 financial framework so that €8.7 billion in rural development credit appropriations not used in 2014 (out of a total of €21 billion) can be transferred to 2015 and 2016. (Lionel Changeur)