It seems that the persistent protest of European farmers was effective, the Brussels institution backed down.
The Council of the European Union has definitively accepted the review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which aims to reduce the administrative burden on EU farmers and ensure greater flexibility in meeting certain environmental protection conditions, the EU Council wrote in a statement on Monday.
According to a statement in Brussels by the body, which includes representatives of the governments of the EU member states, the approved CAP review creates a balance between maintaining the environmental protection and climate policy aspirations of the current EU agricultural policy and addressing the concerns of agricultural producers.
For the GAEC requirements, the revision allows Member States to allow temporary and targeted derogations from certain cross-compliance requirements in the event of unforeseen climatic conditions that prevent farmers from meeting them.
EU farmers will not be obliged to leave a certain part of their arable land fallow.
On a voluntary basis, they can decide to leave part of their arable land fallow or to plant new crops on it. At the same time, it encourages farmers to maintain non-productive areas that are beneficial for biodiversity. Crop rotation also allows farmers with areas affected by regular drought or excessive rainfall to diversify crop production to more easily meet the relevant requirement.
Member States may exempt certain crops, soil types or farming systems from compliance with tillage requirements.
Their scope must be limited and they can only be created if they prove to be necessary to solve specific problems. The revision exempts agricultural farms operating on an area of less than 10 hectares from inspections and sanctions related to compliance with conditionality requirements, which reduces the administrative burden related to inspections for small producers, who make up 65 percent of CAP beneficiaries, the announcement reads.
The review ensures that the EU countries can now amend their CAP strategic plans on a permanent basis, twice a year, as opposed to the current possibility of a single amendment. This gives Member States more flexibility to deal with changing conditions.
The decree enters into force immediately after its publication. Agricultural producers can apply certain new rules related to environmental protection conditions retroactively to the 2024 application year.
MTI
Cover image: The Council of the EU backed down following the farmers' protests
Source: X/N. Dupont-Aignan
