In a videoconference on Wednesday 25 March, the Agriculture Ministers of the EU Member States called for additional measures to help the agricultural sector overcome the adverse consequences of the coronavirus pandemic (see EUROPE 12452/15).
They also stated that controls at the EU’s internal borders “must not disrupt our supply chains” and that the movement of labour must be ensured in order to maintain agricultural production.
Marija Vuckovic, current President of the Agriculture Council, welcomed the measures taken by the Commission so far and considered that “additional and perhaps more specific measures need to be introduced” in favour of the EU agriculture and fisheries sectors.
Exceptional measures. Italian Minister Teresa Bellanova dropped a bombshell, asking for: – the suspension of the ordinary CAP rules for 2020 and the activation of new crisis instruments in order to “ensure the reimbursement to States of advances made from national resources”; – an ‘extraordinary agricultural programme’ to be implemented with extraordinary resources outside the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget; – an extraordinary common fund for stockpiling; – and exceptional assistance for the poorest.
The Spanish Minister Luis Planas called for financial resources to be mobilised to implement the exceptional measures provided for in Articles 219 to 221 of the Regulation on the common organisation of the market (CMO) for sectors such as cut flowers, strawberries and soft fruit, and lamb meat.
The Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, France, Poland and Ireland, in particular, have also advocated “crisis measures” within the CMO.
Poland is asking for aid from the agricultural crisis reserve to compensate for the sectors particularly affected and for the opening of public intervention for milk and beef and veal.
Several countries have advocated extending beyond 15 June 2020 the date by which farmers must submit their applications for CAP aid. This date is already a one-month derogation recently granted by the Commission. The Netherlands, for example, has asked for this deadline to be extended to 1 July 2020.
Flexibility. The Spanish Minister called on the Commission to urgently adopt all possible amendments to the existing legislation to take account of the current ‘force majeure’ situation. He stressed the desirability of recovering unimplemented funds for implementation in subsequent years.
Several countries, including France, asked for flexibility with regard to on-the-spot controls to minimise physical contact between inspection officers and farmers.
The Netherlands have also asked the Commission to allow Member States maximum flexibility to derogate from requirements under current EU rules, such as on-the-spot checks, which cannot be complied with for reasons of force majeure. Portugal has also requested such control derogations.
The Czech Republic, too, has called for an adjustment of the rate of on-the-spot checks so that their number is limited to the absolute minimum possible.
Belgium requested ‘general derogations’ from the implementation of CAP measures until December 2022 and the abolition of on-the-spot checks due to the containment period.
Copa-Cogeca, which was present at the video conference, called on the Commission for “greater flexibility” in the implementation by Member States of CAP legislation in order to give farmers more time to adapt to requirements, particularly environmental requirements.
The organisation also considered that certain major changes in EU consumption should be taken into account in the management of tariff quotas, for example in the case of imports of high-value beef cuts.
Some countries have requested that the live animal transport sector should benefit from accelerated procedures for intra-Community border controls.
Seasonal workers. “Closing the borders would be very difficult for a large number of farms in Luxembourg”, said the country’s minister, Romain Schneider. In his view, consideration should be given to the free movement of seasonal workers between countries.
Copa-Cogeca wants the movement of seasonal workers between regions and Member States to be maintained, “while meeting the necessary public health requirements”.
Fisheries. Several ministers (Spain, France, Denmark, Estonia, Cyprus) requested that the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) be amended to allow for immediate assistance in times of crisis and the use of private storage (see EUROPE 12453/11).
Portugal proposed to provide for the possibility of financing a ‘wage guarantee fund’, based on the national minimum wage, up to 5% of each country's available EMFF, in order to guarantee fishermen’s income.
Virginijus Sinkevičius said that, according to the latest figures available, many countries “still have a substantial EMFF budget left to support the fisheries, aquaculture and processing sectors” which can be used “the end of 2023”. “You can redirect the unspent budget to existing and new EMFF measures in your programme to reduce the negative impact of the Coronavirus crisis on the workers and businesses in these sectors”, he said. He is considering additional measures. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)