On Wednesday 13 September, 43 MEPs from several of the European Parliament’s political groups asked Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to agree to extend until 2024 derogations from compliance with certain environmental rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The MEPs in question, including France’s Irène Tolleret (Renew Europe) and Anne Sander (EPP), are thus joining the dozen or so EU countries in favour of extending, next year, exemptions to Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition 8 (GAEC 8), i.e. the condition relating to compliance with a minimum proportion of arable land devoted to biodiversity (set-aside land).
According to MEPs, this flexibility in the cross-compliance rules is necessary because of the low level of European cereal production (256 million tonnes) and the effects of the war in Ukraine on the availability of agricultural products. “Many Member States are asking for the extension of the current derogations on some GAEC in order to increase EU production. Since the introduction of these derogations, the market situation has not only not improved but has worsened”, write the MEPs. The subject of derogations from CAP rules could be raised on 18 September in Brussels by the European agriculture ministers.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/8jp (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)