On Monday 9 February, the European Court of Auditors published a fairly critical opinion on the European Commission’s proposals for financing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2028-2034 period.
“This is the first time since the CAP was founded in 1962 that the EU will have no specific fund for agriculture. I want to be very clear: this is a substantial change to the way agricultural policy will be funded. Until now, the CAP has been a stand-alone policy with a separate budget under a two-pillar structure which is no longer preserved in the new proposal”, insisted the author of the opinion, Iliana Ivanova, to journalists.
She identified the following key risks:
- a “complex CAP structure” and decision-making process that may delay funding;
- a potential uneven playing field due to greater flexibility given to Member States;
- continued uncertainty about the final CAP budget, which will only be known after the adoption of the national and regional partnership plans;
- not very clear payment and reporting rules.
The Court of Auditors has noted that the Commission has made efforts towards simplification, for example under the CAP’s green architecture, by suggesting to merge eco-schemes and agri-environmental and climate measures. However, all these efforts may be undermined by the fact that the CAP interventions are scattered across several legal proposals, deplored Iliana Ivanova. This can create confusion for national authorities and beneficiaries when trying to understand and implement the regulatory provisions.
The former MEP also welcomed the suggestion to transfer the CAP articles from the Partnership Plans Regulation to the CAP Regulation (see EUROPE 13797/12). “We think even more CAP relevant provisions could follow suit”, added Iliana Ivanova.
Steering role. Significant divergence between Member States on the content of national plans could “hamper the alignment of CAP spending with EU priorities and lead to distortion of competition and an uneven playing field”, explained Iliana Ivanova. To reduce this risk, the Court of Auditors stresses the need for EU legislators to clarify in legislation the scope and elements of the European Commission’s steering role. This would ensure that Member States’ plans focus on CAP objectives in a coherent manner.
Mrs Ivanova also said that there was a lack of clarity on the overall amount of CAP funding, since, according to this proposal, this will only be known once the partnership plans have been adopted. This makes it difficult to compare current EU funding with that of the future financial framework.
The Commission has proposed basing certain CAP payments on the achievement of milestones and targets, but the proposal does not specify exactly which interventions are concerned.
In addition, the European Court of Auditors has made it clear that simplification should not come at the cost of accountability and funding needs to be traceable from the EU accounts down to final beneficiaries (such as farmers), in particular when payment not linked to costs are applied. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)