Despite the difficulties encountered by some EU Member States to meet the deadlines, the European Commission invited the Ministers of Agriculture, on Monday 11 October in Luxembourg, to submit their strategic plan on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) by the end of 2021.
The national strategy plans must be approved by the Commission by 2022 at the latest to allow the new CAP to enter into force on 1 January 2023.
In an EU Council debate on the strategic plans for the CAP, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, expressed his willingness to help countries submit their plans on time. “I know that this phase is crucial, because it is the moment when you have to make your choices, take the key political decisions and validate internally what you will formally submit to the Commission for approval”, the Commissioner told EU ministers.
A structured dialogue was launched last year and the Commissioner invited countries to make the most of it before the formal submission of the CAP strategic plans.
European Green Deal. Janusz Wojciechowski admitted that some countries were “concerned” about the indication in the CAP strategic plans of national contributions to the objectives of the European Green Deal “and how the Commission will take this into account in the evaluation process”.
The Commissioner defended the objectives of the European Green Deal, “which are not ambitions of the Commission, but ambitions shared by the Union”.
However, several ministers, including France’s Julien Denormandie, have argued that the European Green Deal targets should not be included in either the strategic plans nor in the secondary legislation (delegated and implementing acts) on the implementation of the CAP.
The agreement on the CAP indicates, according to the French minister, that the ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy is “a political vision” that should lead to legislation in the next year or two. “This agreement must not be called into question by the Commission and secondary acts”, summarised Mr Denormandie.
Furthermore, the Commissioner for Agriculture insisted on the need to remain vigilant “regarding the risk of conflict of interest linked to CAP funds”. Janusz Wojciechowski asked countries to take into account the relevant provisions of the financial rules in strategic plans in order to mitigate and prevent such situations. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)