EU Agriculture Ministers will discuss a technical aspect (the ‘new delivery model’) of the proposal on strategic plans under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on Tuesday 14 May in Brussels. This is one of the three proposals on the CAP post-2020.
The EU Council will also have an exchange of views on the agricultural aspects of the Communication on a long-term strategic European vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate-neutral economy. The ‘Agriculture’ Council of the EU was due to discuss it in April, but the subject had been postponed (see EUROPE 12235/19).
CAP. In preparation for the debate on the new delivery model, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 6 May, was asked to approve the two questions put to ministers on the proposal on future strategic plans for the CAP.
The Commission has proposed to shift from a compliance-based to a performance-based policy focusing on outputs and results (‘new delivery model’). The key constituting elements of the performance framework of the 'new delivery model' are the governance system, the annual performance clearance and the performance review.
The discussions, which are very technical, focus on certain elements. Regarding the reporting of milestones and performance review, the Commission's proposal sets out an annual performance review linked to annual milestones based on result indicators. Many Member States criticised this approach, claiming that annual milestones would cause significant administrative burden. To take into account the criticisms, the Romanian Presidency suggested allowing a larger deviation from the respective milestones in the first years of delivery, without the need for justification; this deviation, initially set at more than 45% for the 2022 financial year, would go to 40% for the 2023 financial year and to 35% for the 2024 financial year and subsequent years. Many delegations reiterated their concerns about the annual nature of milestones and performance reviews.
As regard to the fixing of unit amounts for non-area/animal-based interventions, the fixing of unit amounts in the form of an average amount of aid could create difficulties when planning in advance the total duration of the CAP strategic plan. Many Member States have expressed concern that this increases the risk of having to justify each year each difference between the planned and actual unit amount of an intervention and that it is not compatible with an applicable and effective reporting system. Several options have been examined at the technical level to try to find a viable solution for this type of intervention, such as increased flexibility in adopting the planned unit amounts or using another costed element instead of the unit amounts.
TRADE. European Commissioner Phil Hogan will provide an update on the situation regarding issues related to international trade in agricultural products. Ministers will exchange views on the EU's agricultural vulnerabilities, priorities and potential benefits from the ongoing and future negotiations in which the EU is engaged with a view to concluding free trade agreements. In particular with regard to Mercosur, several Member States are said to still have concerns about the risks that an agreement with these countries would pose to the most sensitive EU agricultural sectors (beef, ethanol, sugar and poultry), recalling the need to maintain high sanitary and phytosanitary standards as well as animal welfare standards.
Ministers will raise 'various points' such as: - the situation in the fruit sector; - the effects of the judgment of the European Court of Justice (C-528/16) on the regulatory status of plants resulting from some of the latest plant breeding methods; - the regulation on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMMF). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)