Brussels, 02/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - During their informal meeting on 30 May-2 June in Brno in the Czech Republic, EU agriculture ministers debated the future of the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013, particularly with regard to changes to be made to direct payments. On Tuesday 2 June, at an Agriculture Council session on “What future for Direct Payments?”, Mariann Fischer Boel, the commissioner for agriculture and rural development, announced that in 2010 the European Commission would present (during the summer or at the beginning of autumn) a communication launching a public debate on this theme. In the middle of 2011, the Commission will produce legislative proposals on the future of direct agricultural payments at the same time as proposals on post-2013 financial perspectives.
Commissioner Boel said that “post-2013, the role and contribution of direct payments for income support to farmers should be different from what we have today”. By that time, more than 90% of payments will be decoupled and the transition of the new member states toward an EU wide scheme should be finalised. In her speech to ministers, the commissioner added: “We also hope the economic crisis will be over and pressures on farm prices will hopefully be reduced”.
The European Commission and many member states observed that the EU needed to continue the direct payments system. This system provides a safety net to farmers in terms of income and helps pay towards what is owned by, and directly benefits, the public (landscape, biodiversity, regional management) and ensures food security.
The pressure is still mounting in order to change or get rid of several major provisions in the current system. “The existing system of direct payments is based on historical data and very complicated calculations and, in addition, it is burdened with an excessive number of exemptions”, explained First Deputy Minister Ivo Hlaváè. The Presidency and the Czech Republic will seek to set up a system based on a simple fixed payment equal for all the member states and independent of production, the amount of which would not be determined by historical production indicators.
Mariann Fischer Boel considers that any new sharing out of the budgetary envelope between member states for post-2013 should go towards greater uniformity in direct aid. The latter currently accounts for an average of €300 per hectare in the 15 old member states and €180 in the 12 new member states. The Commission underlined the need to finish with historical references used by certain member states, particularly France and Spain, when calculating the level of new aid.
Agriculture ministers from Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom called for a further increase in the rates of aid modulation (reduction in aid to consolidate funding under the rural development programmes). These countries will say that modulation allows for CAP money to be spent as “compensation” for services provided by producers, such as environmental protection, explained the Danish minister, Eva Kjer Hansen. The Dutch minister, Gerda Verburg, however, and her colleague from Germany, Ilse Aigner, opposed a rise in modulation and like France and Spain, defended “robust” direct payments.
Gerda Verburg touched on the difficulties currently being experienced by producers and said that she wanted to proceed to a full payment in direct aid from 16 October instead of at the beginning of December. On 25 May, the European Commission reduced this possibility to 70% of total direct aid.
Ms Fischer Boel indicated that the public debate on butter and fat-free milk powder would continue until the end of August. Administrative difficulties linked to the maintaining of this measure beyond the customary opening periods and discussed at the last Agriculture Council, have been overcome, she explained. (L.C./transl.rh)