At the last meeting of the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) on Monday 9 October, the Member States called on the European Commission to make the procedure for amending the national strategic plans implementing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) more flexible.
The delegations highlighted the complexity and length of this procedure. They also feel that the information requested is too detailed, resulting in a significant administrative burden. Problems have also been reported with recording data in the SFC2021 information exchange system, particularly for Member States with regions.
For its part, the European Commission has indicated its willingness to cooperate with the Member States on areas that require simplification. These difficulties were identified in a document presented by the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council.
At the Agriculture Council on 18 September, Denmark called for the EU’s food, agriculture and fisheries policies to be simplified (see EUROPE 13256/5). The Commission will shortly present an assessment of the first year of implementation of the CAP strategic plans. The Agriculture Council is due to discuss the CAP strategic plans at its November meeting (20-21 November). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)