Agriculture: the European Commission proposes measures to simplify the CAP
This Thursday, February 22, Brussels presented new proposals to alleviate “
the pressure
” on farmers and respond to their movement of anger.
France's leading farmers' union (FNSEA) says it could take to blockading motorways again as it did during protests in late January.
AFP - FREDERICK FLORIN
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Relaxation of requirements on meadows, administrative simplifications and reduction of inspection visits, tolerance in the event of an extreme climatic episode... The measures proposed this Thursday by the European Commission to respond to the
anger of farmers
will be examined on Monday by the ministers of Agriculture of the Twenty-Seven and could be adopted as early as March.
In detail, Brussels is proposing to modify the obligations to maintain areas devoted to permanent meadows, in order to moderate the loss of income that this entails for former breeders converted to other crops.
Other environmental obligations imposed by the new
CAP
, applied since the beginning of 2023, could be reviewed.
Thus, the expansion of practices authorized within the framework of the soil cover obligation “
will be examined
”.
A tolerance would be granted in the event
of “force majeure and exceptional circumstances
”, for example climatic episodes (drought, floods, etc.) preventing a farmer from complying with the requirements of the CAP, so that he does not incur costs. penalties.
Cut inspections in half
Above all, the European executive proposes to “
simplify the methodology for certain controls
”, with a view to “
reducing by up to 50% the number of visits to farms carried out by national administrations
”.
The idea is to “
rationalize and clarify the evaluation of surface monitoring
” thanks to “
automated image analysis
” from the European Copernicus satellite program, in order to “
reduce inspections on farms
” and “
help farmers to avoid mistakes
.
“
This measure directly responds to requests from States
,” specifies the Commission.
At the beginning of February, the French Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, called for progress on this question of controls.
“
This first, long-awaited simplification package is going in the right direction.
The process must now quickly provide farmers with tangible provisions
,” noted on X (formerly Twitter) Copa-Cogeca, the organization of the majority agricultural unions.
Brussels had already proposed at the end of January a
partial and temporary suspension of fallow obligations
and stricter supervision of Ukrainian agricultural imports accused of weighing down European markets.
But the agricultural sector found these concessions largely insufficient.
The subject of Ukrainian imports remains sensitive in Poland, where the blockade of the border by farmers has caused a violent crisis between Warsaw and kyiv in recent days.
The Twenty-Seven, for their part, demanded ambitious measures to “
simplify
” procedures.
“
The message from farmers is clear: they want to work in their fields, not be stuck behind files
,” commented the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski.
“
The Commission remains fully determined to provide solutions to alleviate the pressure (...) and help our farmers guarantee food security
,” added the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, herself spurred on by elected officials. conservatives from his own camp.
However, Brussels recalls “
the essential role of States in maintaining a limited and proportionate administrative burden
”.
Small farmers exempt?
In the medium term, the Commission plans to modify the regulations of the new CAP – endorsed in 2021 by States and MEPs – to exempt small farms of less than 10 hectares from controls linked to compliance with environmental conditions.
“
This would considerably simplify the work of small farmers, who represent 65% of CAP beneficiaries, without reducing environmental ambitions since these small farms only cover 9.6% of the areas benefiting from European aid
,” she notes. .
Several environmental conditions - necessary to receive CAP payments - could also be revised "
to further reduce the burden
" on farmers: fallows, crop rotation... Finally, Brussels promises to present "
soon
" measures "
aimed at improve the position of farmers in the agri-food chain and protect them from unfair commercial practices
", particularly on "
market transparency
" or the control of rules on imported products.
And the Commission will launch in March “
an online survey addressed directly to farmers
” to “
identify their main sources of concern
” and administrative obstacles.
The results will be analyzed and published “
in the fall
”.
(
With
AFP)
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