Brussels, 04/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - At a conference on the theme of CAP simplification in Brussels on 3-4 October, the European Commission confirmed its firm intention to pursue its initiatives in simplifying rules and administrative formalities in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It is planning to replace 21 Common Market Organisations (CMO) into a single CMO and benefit from a CAP “health check”, planned in 2008, to make a number of adjustments (such as the end of the system for leaving land fallow) and revision of the EU budget, programmed for 2009, in view of assessing the advantages of a single model for decoupling direct aid. A number of other subjects were discussed at last week's informal meeting of European agriculture ministers (EUROPE 9273 and 9272).
In a speech Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture declared that simplification of the CAP did not mean getting rid of it, “We need a common policy for agriculture, for many reasons. If anyone thinks that reverting to national policies would really make life simpler in the European Union's single market, I would gladly debate the issue with them - but not today”. As part of the “technical simplification” planned, Ms Fischer Boel mentioned the setting up of a “single, up-to-date map…of our market policies”. This single CMO map will allow for the bringing together into a single regulation, provisions from the 21 current CMO sectors, explained the Commissioner, who promised not to change “our instruments” on the matter. Fischer Boel also pointed to the existence of an action plan of October 2005 on simplification in agriculture (EUROPE 9052). “Political simplification” would consist, for example, of the scrapping of the production quota system. This would allow farmers the freedom to produce without having to worry about artificial limits, underlined the Commissioner. Sectoral reforms (sugar, wine, bananas, fruit and vegetables) provide a rich potential for simplification, added the Commissioner, citing the example of her proposal of scrapping restrictions on vine planting rights. During the CAP “bill of health”, it will be necessary to examine, “very closely” the numerous exceptions to the principle of decoupling total direct aid (breaks in the link between the level of aid and the volumes produced), explained the Commissioner who added that when the reforms of 2003 are fully implemented, 90% of aid would be decoupled. The Commissioner also appealed for the scrapping of the set-aside system. Among the subjects for the mid-term review she mentioned included the implementation, but only after 2013, of a single decoupling model (like the one that exists today for eight of the ten Member States that joined the EU in 2004).
Commissioner for Industry, Günter Verheugen said that the work of CAP simplification fitted perfectly with the “Better Legislation” initiative launched in March 2005 (EUROPE 8911). Announcing the development of a new package by the end of the year for the third pillar of the simplification of the Community acquis initiative, Mr Verheugen underlined the need to scale down the administrative burden and the useless weight of bureaucracy which as “particularly true for the Agriculture legislation framework”. Commissioner Verheugen welcomed the example of the implementation of the single CMO and also asserted that “the concept of 'technical simplification' aims at complementing recent agricultural reforms by focusing on revision of the legal framework, administrative procedures and management mechanisms to achieve a streamlining and greater cost effectiveness without changing the underlying policies”. (lc-eh)