In her draft report amending the proposal for a horizontal regulation, Ulrike Müller MEP (ALDE, Germany) considers it will be necessary to have a transition period for implementation of the future common agricultural policy (see related article).
With a view to simplification, the draft report to be presented at the committee on agriculture on 21 November proposes exemptions for small farmers and harmonisation of the sanctions system.
The draft report on the horizontal regulation (financing, management and monitoring) considers the European Commission’s proposals to be generally positive, especially the transition from a system of compliance to a system of performance, even if greater simplification is necessary.
Transition period. Ulrike Müller expresses scepticism, as does her colleague, Esther Herranz Garcia, responsible for strategic planning (see EUROPE 12126), about the possibility of reaching an agreement on CAP post-2020 swiftly. She calls for a complete legal act governing the transitional provisions needed, especially the new performance-based approach, to be adopted in good time in order to give member states time to put the new systems in place.
Crisis reserve. The MEP recommends that the crisis reserve be taken from the EU general budget (Heading 2) rather than the budget of the first pillar of the CAP, that its use be limited to crisis situations and that the proposed principle of rollover be upheld (the unspent budget being carried over from one year to the next).
Sanctions. The draft report proposes that member states should be able to rule out application of administrative sanctions for beneficiaries for whom the annual aid amount is below or equal to €1250 or when the eligible surface area is below 10 hectares. Müller recommends a system of controls based on risk. In addition, in order to re-establish “a certain harmonisation”, she introduces a common progressive sanctions scheme in the event of repeated non-compliance (10% in the case of first-time non-compliance due to negligence, 15% in the case of intentional non-compliance, and up to total suspension for one or several years in the case of repeated non-compliance).
The Commission leaves it up to member states to decide on the level of sanctions they deem necessary. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)