Brussels, 24/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission adopted a proposal on Tuesday 22 March on application of financial discipline in order to build up the agricultural crisis reserve for 2016, amounting to €450.5 million.
This is a customary annual procedure for reducing direct aid in order to build up the reserve. If not used, the money returns to farmers. At the moment, most EU countries want the crisis reserve to be used to finance additional measures to bolster the milk, pigmeat and fruit and vegetables sectors only as a last resort.
The provisions of financial discipline are set out in Article 26 of Regulation 1306/2013 of 17 December 2013 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy (CAP).
Under the proposal, the total reduction resulting from application of financial discipline will be €450.5 million. The percentage of the financial discipline adjustment rate is 1.366744%. It has been calculated taking into account that it is to be applied only to amounts of direct payments per farmer in excess of €2,000 and not in Croatia.
Application of the adjustment rate will mean a reduction in the money available for direct payments in the budget lines covering expenditure on aid applications submitted by farmers for calendar year 2016 (2017 budget year). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)