The European Commission announced on Thursday 16 April the adoption of measures to help farmers whose activities are suffering from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The measures will increase the cash flow of farmers and reduce administrative burden for national, regional authorities and for farmers in these particularly challenging times”, a statement said.
To increase cash flow, the Commission has adopted a measure that will increase, for the year 2020, advances on direct payments (from 50% to 70%) and rural development payments (from 75% to 85%). Farmers will start receiving these advances starting mid-October. To give them more flexibility, Member States will be able to pay advances to farmers before finalising all on-the-spot checks.
The second measure reduces the percentage of physical on-the-spot checks for CAP aid from 5 to 3%. “In the current exceptional circumstances, it is crucial to minimise physical contact between farmers and the inspectors”, the Commission argues. Member States will be able to use other sources of information (satellite images) to replace traditional on-farm visits and to prove that investments have taken place.
The Commission suggests mobilising unused funds from the second pillar (6 billion) to finance new market measures (see EUROPE 12467/11). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)