EU Agriculture Ministers will take stock of progress in negotiations on post-2020 changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on Monday 17 December in Brussels.
In its report on the state of negotiations on the three proposals on the table (https://bit.ly/2QWS5WY ), the Austrian Presidency recalls that the Council will only be able to adopt its full position on the three proposals for regulations on CAP reform “”.
The Austrian Presidency stresses that the amendments it suggests to the three texts on the table (strategic plans, common market organisation and horizontal regulation). However, it considers that all the necessary efforts have been made by delegations to enable the future Romanian Presidency (1st half of 2019) to continue work on this dossier.
Unclear timetable at the European Parliament. On Parliament's side, the President, Antonio Tajani, informed the various committees that the reports on the Commission's sectoral proposals for the post-2020 period should be voted on by the Assembly before the end of the parliamentary term, i.e. at the latest at the last plenary session, from 15 to 18 April 2019.
But, as far as the next CAP is concerned, the schedule of MEPs in the Committee on Agriculture remains unclear. Their rapporteurs and political coordinators, meeting on 10 December in Strasbourg, did not set any date for the vote in committee (the vote initially scheduled for 18 and 19 February may no longer be relevant).
Direct payments. The Commission will present to the Council a proposal amending the current rules in order to prepare for the transition to future CAP legislation and to avoid disruptions in direct payments. The text allows Member States to modify the degressivity schedule for payments to areas that received such rural development support (EAFRD) in the previous programming period, but which, in the current period, are no longer classified as areas subject to natural constraints other than mountain areas. It also provides for the use of EAFRD technical assistance for actions preparing for the implementation of the future CAP. The proposal also gives Member States the possibility to continue to make transfers of funds between the two pillars of the CAP during the 2020 calendar year, which relate to the 2021 budget year.
Ministers will also have an exchange of views on the recent update of the European strategy on the bio-economy (Hungary will present the conclusions of the BIOEAST conference on this issue held in early November).
Other miscellaneous items on the agenda include the recent Commission report and the November conference on development of plant proteins, autumn forest fires, the follow-up to the 2017 fipronil crisis in the poultry sector, the establishment of an international centre in Copenhagen for solutions on antibiotic resistance and the outcome of an inter-parliamentary conference in Croatia on the role of parliaments in the future of agriculture. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)