The European Commission said on Wednesday 5 January that 18 EU countries had submitted their national strategic plans implementing the common agricultural policy (CAP) on time (by 1 January 2022).
The new CAP will enter into force on 1 January 2023 and the Commission still has to approve the national strategic plans by summer 2022.
Nine countries did not meet the deadline of 1 January 2022 (set out in the basic regulation on strategic plans) to submit their strategic plans to the Commission: Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovakia.
The 18 Member States that have submitted their plans to the Commission are: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.
At the EU Council meeting on 13 December, several EU countries’ agriculture ministers asked for some flexibility in the timetable for presenting their national strategic plans (see EUROPE 12852/12).
The French Presidency of the Council of the EU has scheduled a debate on 21 March in the Agriculture Council on the approval of the CAP strategic plans (see EUROPE 12860/3).
Link to the draft agendas of the EU Council under the French Presidency (in French): https://bit.ly/3zqcmrH (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)