Brussels, 06/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is putting the finishing touches to a new package of measures to simplify the rules of the reformed common agriculture policy (CAP) concerning controls, the support scheme for young farmers and coupled support (linked to production levels).
As announced by the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Phil Hogan, the Commission is getting ready to publish a series of delegated and implementing acts to simplify the integrated administration and control system (IACS), the scheme for young farmers and the optional coupled support under the new CAP. The draft texts are ready and are already doing the rounds of the services. The most important plank of these new technical measures, which are to be presented to the member states in the near future, concern controls, covering four out of the anticipated six texts. The simplification of the CAP is on the agenda of the forthcoming Agriculture Council, to be held on 16 November.
Controls. On the one hand, the Commission is proposing to give farmers flexibility to declare their surface area of ecological interest. Currently, they have to do so when applying for their direct aid, in other words no later than 15 May (or 15 June in the case of the Nordic countries). “However, farmers may need to adapt their growing plans in the course of the season, either the crop itself or where it is to be planted”, the Commission explains. It therefore suggests that in cases for which reasons are provided, farmers should have the option to change their declaration. This option would be granted only if the new declaration does not put the beneficiary in a more favourable position as regards respecting his or her greening obligations than under the initial declaration.
Another simplification relating to greening: the member states will be able to reinforce their tools to identify non-compliant declarations a long way upstream, to allow the beneficiaries to correct these issues before their applications are submitted. “The system would be a kind of warning light”, the Commission explains, warning that if the non-compliance is confirmed, a reduction or even administrative fines could be applied.
There is a regulation aiming to simplify controls and the implementation of the agri-environmental measures in the framework of rural development: a legal framework for the management and control of situations in which a group of farmers is considered a single beneficiary (in particular for the zones under Natura 2000) and greater flexibility for the beneficiaries to facilitate a results-based approach, for instance allowing them to notify their activities (late mowing, planting dates, etc) just 14 days before these are actually carried out, rather than several weeks, or even months, in advance, as is currently the case.
The Commission is also proposing simplifications for the benefit of the national administrations. In particular, the streamlining of the sampling system of farms to undergo controls on the ground. The Commission intends to allow the member states to create bridges between samples controlled in the framework of the first pillar (direct aid) and of the second pillar (rural development): the beneficiaries selected for controls under the measures of the second pillar may also be selected under the first pillar, and vice versa. The aim is to limit the number of beneficiaries to be controlled on the ground. Provisions are also in place to allow the (conditional) reduction of the minimum rate of holdings controlled to 3% or even 1% in 2016, instead of 5% currently.
Young farmers. A text on the 'direct payments' regulation and, more specifically, the top-up of 2% granted to young farmers will allow the member states, from 2016 or 2017, to exclude legal entities jointly controlled by young farmers and other farmers. This aims to increase the effectiveness and scope of the payment for young farmers and to reduce the administrative burden related to controls.
Coupled payments. In the framework of the optional coupled payments granted to sensitive sectors, the Commission wishes to allow the member states to bring in, from 2016 and to a certain extent, a modulation of this aid within a single sector, in order to take account of the size of the beneficiary, which the current regulation does not allow, as it imposes a unit rate of aid. The aim is to improve the targeting and use of this money. Similarly, from 2016, the member states will be able to transfer funds between coupled support measures depending on the year (under certain conditions). The final measure in this framework is a simplification of the notifications made by the member states of this coupled aid. All of these measures may be adopted soon. The ones which will take the longest to enter into force concern coupled aid and young farmers, which are delegated acts regarding which the Council and the European Parliament have a period of two months to put forward any objections. Another package on the greening and eco-conditionality of aid is expected for the spring. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)