In tweets published on 28 March, Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski provided ideas on the definition of ‘active farmer’, one of the issues at stake in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.
The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU has proposed to provide for a mandatory definition of ‘active farmer’, as requested by the European Parliament.
The Commissioner published an indicative list of criteria to be considered: living on the farm, working and managing the business personally, having animals, deriving a “significant” level of income from farming, managing the ancestral/inherited farm.
“At least two” of these five criteria should be met, he adds. Mr Wojciechowski acknowledges that the exercise is complicated because of the diversity of European agriculture and the “risk of an additional administrative burden”.
At the super trilogue on 26 March, the co-legislators reportedly agreed on the binding nature of the definition, but not on the details of this definition.
On 12 April, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) will vote on the elements of compromise found on the CAP. On 26 April, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU will inform the Ministers of Agriculture about the state of negotiations on the future CAP (in a video conference). The aim is to reach a final agreement between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU by the end of May. (see EUROPE 12688/3).
Link to the Commissioner’s tweets: https://bit.ly/3mhHuTx (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)