On Monday 11 or Tuesday 12 October, EU agriculture ministers will review the progress made towards the submission and approval of the Strategic Plans for the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU has prepared a working document in which it poses three questions to the Ministers, in view of the Council meeting on 11-12 October in Luxembourg: - What is the current state of drawing up your draft Strategic Plan?; - To what extent should the process of assessment and approval be transparent?; - What are the key issues flagged by stakeholders during consultations?
According to the Slovenian document, the Commission will assess the coherence and contribution of these plans to the objectives of the ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘Biodiversity’ strategies.
Many Member States “should be at the stage of finalising” their Strategic Plans and be prepared to present them officially by 1 January 2022, as planned. “It seems that nearly all Member States have prepared their needs’ assessments and intervention strategies, which are being revised and updated”, according to the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Further steps, such as defining the eligibility conditions for interventions, setting target and milestones for the relevant performance indicators for each intervention, and defining annual planned outputs and unit amounts per intervention, “are ongoing in most Member States”. Similarly, ex ante evaluations and strategic environmental assessments are underway.
The first rounds of public consultations have taken place and further consultations are underway or planned in the coming months, according to the Slovenian document (https://bit.ly/3B6087s ).
In November the European Parliament should approve the three texts reforming the CAP (see EUROPE 12787/13) (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)