On Monday 18 July, the European Commission said that it had finalised discussions with five EU Member States (Portugal, Poland, Spain, Denmark and France) on the drafting of national strategic plans to implement the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
“We will launch the approval procedure for these countries”, said Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, at the Agriculture Council.
“We are doing everything we can to finalise discussions on the plans as quickly as possible. Our intention is to adopt all the plans by the end of the year at the latest”, the Commissioner reiterated.
At this stage, “we are confident that we will be able to adopt all strategic plans this year”, he added.
The European Commission has prepared “all the secondary acts required to implement the plans in the most effective way possible”.
The European Commission estimates that up to ten EU Member States could submit a new version of their national strategic plan before the summer break.
The approval process takes about 6 weeks, “so it should be possible to have the first adoption decisions in early September”, the commissioner said.
He reiterated that the CAP strategic plans must contribute to meeting the objectives of the European Green Deal. “Many of you have changed your first version of the plan and aligned it with the rules on crop rotation”, Wojciechowski said. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)