On Monday 28 January in Brussels, EU agriculture ministers called for more flexibility in the proposals on the new delivery model for implementing the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). They were divided on the new reserve for agricultural crises and the European Commissioner for Agriculture tried to reassure ministers on the new ecological architecture of the future CAP.
The Romanian Presidency of the Council hopes that the EU Agriculture Ministers will reach a partial general approach on the three post-2020 CAP legislative acts in June. MEPs of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee are planning, at this stage, to adopt their position on the post-2020 CAP in June. But the timetable for a plenary vote has not yet been decided, as MEPs are divided. The European Commissioner for Agriculture said that the Parliament was progressing well and that the “momentum is good”. He considered that trilogues between institutions with a view to reaching a political agreement on the future CAP could start next autumn.
New delivery model. The Commission proposes that Member States set annual milestones in their CAP Strategic Plans and report on their achievement each year by 15 February in an annual performance report (providing both financial data and information on per performance). If the reported values of one or more result indicators diverge from the respective milestones by more than a certain tolerance margin, the Commission could request that Member States submit an action plan as a remedial action.
The tolerance margin of 25% (a certain degree of deviation from the objectives) proposed by the Commission was considered by several delegations as too restrictive. The Romanian Presidency proposed a higher tolerance margin (35%) and a progressive approach, which seemed to please several delegations, including Austria, Greece, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Estonia (Hungary requested at least 50%). The Netherlands requested that the tolerance margin be reduced.
The proposed deadline of 15 February for the submission of the annual performance report was considered as a difficulty by many delegations, due to the quantity of information to be provided. Mr Hogan said that for 85% of direct aids, EU countries have more than seven months to present the data; therefore the Commissioner did not understand the problems raised by the Agriculture Ministers.
Agricultural reserve. The proposal provides for an 'agricultural reserve' for the 2021-2027 period, replacing the crisis reserve currently laid down in the Horizontal Regulation.
The Commission proposes a carry-over of unused amounts of the current crisis reserve as of 2020 onward to establish the new agricultural reserve (at least €400 million) in 2021, for reasons of simplification and to avoid a financial discipline exercise at the beginning of the new period.
Some delegations support the Commission's proposal, such as France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Finland and some so-called liberal countries (including Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands), while others (Italy, Poland, Belgium, Lithuania, Hungary, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Czech Republic) argue that the unused amounts from 2020 should be returned to farmers, in line with the current rules.
Countries are also divided on the proposal to maintain the €2,000 threshold for the application of financial discipline. France and Germany support the proposal, as do the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ireland, Luxembourg and Finland. The other countries (Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, Cyprus, Malta, Latvia, Greece, Hungary) are in favour of maintaining this exemption.
Green architecture. Mr Hogan's services presented a new document which aims to clarify certain aspects of the proposal on the ecological architecture of the CAP. It explains how the future CAP can generate significant benefits in terms of environmental protection, while allowing for further simplification. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)