The European Commission, which on Wednesday 14 May will present its proposals aimed at further simplifying certain rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), believes that the system of cross-compliance requires additional adjustments, according to a draft regulation obtained by Agence Europe.
The Commission plans to offer EU Member States greater flexibility in the implementation of certain Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC), as we had anticipated (see EUROPE 13623/10). GAEC is one of the main cross-compliance criteria for European agricultural aid (see EUROPE 13604/23, 13566/10).
Farmers producing organic food should be granted ‘green by definition’ status for GAECs 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 (this status has already been granted for GAEC 7 concerning crop rotation).
With regard to GAEC 1 (maintenance of permanent grassland), while the current rules stipulate that grassland may not be reduced by more than 5% compared with 2018, the limit could be raised to 10%, according to the proposed amendments, in order to take account of structural changes, particularly in the livestock sector.
The implementation of GAEC 4 (buffer strips along water courses) should also be clarified to enable Member States to better align the definition of water courses with national terminology.
For GAEC 2 (protection of wetlands and peat bogs), the Commission is suggesting that Member States be given greater flexibility in its application.
In addition, the draft proposes to increase the maximum flat-rate payment for farmers receiving smallholder aid to €2,500.
The Commission is also proposing to amend the rules on direct payments and rural development in order to introduce two new types of crisis payment, which can be mobilised in the event of a natural disaster. There are ceilings for these amounts.
Link to the draft regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/grg (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)