The European Commission approved on Tuesday 13 September the strategic plans for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) presented by Austria and Luxembourg.
This is the second package of approvals of strategic plans implementing the new CAP, following the approval on 31 August (see EUROPE 13011/11) of the plans of seven countries (Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain).
The CAP will benefit from €270 billion of funding for the period 2023-2027.
The two approved plans of Austria and Luxembourg represent a budget of more than €6.2 billion, of which €2.1 billion is dedicated to environmental and climate objectives and eco-regimes.
The Austrian eco-regimes focus on soil and water protection and improved animal welfare, while Luxembourg will support non-productive areas and strips and provide subsidies to farmers who limit their use of pesticides.
Both countries will also strongly support organic farming practices. CAP funding in Luxembourg will contribute to increasing the area dedicated to organic farming to 20% by 2025. Austria already has one of the highest shares of organic production in the EU. With the help of the CAP, this share will be increased to 30% of agricultural land.
More info at: https://aeur.eu/f/31g
Derogations. At the meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 12 September, all EU countries indicated their willingness to apply the derogations on crop rotation (Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition of land, or GAEC 7) and the share of non-productive land (GAEC 8), except for two countries that indicated that they will not apply either (Denmark and Malta). Two countries (Ireland and Slovakia) will only apply the derogations that concern GAEC 7. These derogations were granted in 2022 and 2023 by the Commission to stimulate production in the context of the war in Ukraine (see EUROPE 13002/24). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)