The Minister of Rural Development and Food, Lefteris Avgenakis, has been in Brussels since yesterday, Sunday, in order to participate in the Council of Ministers on the changes to the CAP. Today, Monday the program includes meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the European People’s Party. The regular Council of the 27 Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the EU will then take place, while immediately afterwards the second meeting of the group of ministers of the countries of the South (EUMED-9) will take place.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Mr. Avgenakis will go to Paris, where in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty of France, Marc Fesnau, a Ministerial day will be held on climate change and health challenges in livestock farming, during the International Agricultural Exhibition. 60 Ministers of Agriculture from around the world are participating.

THE Minister of Rural Development pointed out what the government is clearly on the side of the farmers regarding the necessary changes to the CAP in order to make it more functional and beneficial for them and in this logic is already submitting 19 proposals for technical changes starting tomorrowwhich are a collaboration product of EUMED-9.

The 19 sentences:

  • Facilitating the use of good quality satellite imagery to avoid the need for on-site inspections or to review the quality control procedures of our inspection systems to avoid the need for multiple on-site inspections.
  • Simplification of inspections – Reduction of necessary inspections to one visit per farm per year.
  • Change of the provision for the automatic decommitment rule from N+2 to N+3, with regard to the EAFRD (Article 34 par. 1 of Reg. 2021/2116), as it applied in the programming period 2014-2022. Harmonization with the provisions applicable to all other Investment and Structural Funds of the European Union, for which the N+3 rule still applies during the current programming period.
  • Harmonization of the provisions regarding the entry into force of the amendment proposals, for the interventions of Pillar I (EAGF) with the provisions in force for Pillar II (EAGF). The validity of the amendments from the date of their official submission to the EU services to be applied also for Pillar I (especially for the intervention categories of Article 42 of Reg. (EU) 2021/2115 (sectoral interventions)).
  • Possibility of amending elements of the CAP Strategic Plan, only by notification to the EU on certain issues for which there will be a prior agreement. In addition, there should be the possibility of submitting an amendment to the Strategic Plan of the CAP, without limitations as to the number per year to address any needs that arise during its implementation. In addition, to apply retroactivity for certain modifications depending on the nature of the relevant interventions (Article 119 par. 8 of Reg. (EU) 2021/2115).
  • Limiting the required information in the programmatic text of the CAP Strategic Plan to what is absolutely necessary, taking into account that it is a strategy text and not an operational text (Article 119 par. 7,9 and 12 Reg. (EU) 2021/2115) (Article 93 par. 1 and par. 3 Reg. (EU) 2021/2115) (Art. 92 par. 2 Reg. (EU) 2021/2115) (Art. 95 par. 4 Reg. (EU) 2021/2115 (Art. 98 par. 2 Reg. (EU) 2021/2115).
  • Review of the requirement for mandatory coherence of Linked Income Support interventions with the Water Framework Directive (2021/2115/EU, Article 109 paragraph 2 c)) in terms of simplification.
  • Amending the biennial performance review provisions to cover the financial year 2026. The deviation tolerance should be increased from 25 to 40% (2021/2115/EU, Article 135(2)).
  • Accelerating the negotiation of CAP Strategic Plan amendments, by significantly reducing consultation time between committees and official signatures.
  • 12-month derogation from the following Good Agricultural and Environmental Status (GAEC) Standards: GAEC 5, GAEC 6, GAEC 7, GAEC 8 (2021/2115/EU, Annex III).
  • No conditional control obligation for holdings with a maximum holding size of up to 10 hectares (2021/2116/EU, Article 83).
  • Annual report – extension of the processing time of the annual report, taking into account the necessary exchange of data by various bodies (managing authority, paying agency, monitoring committee and certification body) and the technical and administrative complexity of the system.
  • Review environmental and climate requirements and set realistic deadlines for their implementation. Analysis of the economic impact on the agricultural sector in the EU and adoption of possible fixes to these new policies.
  • Simplified cost options – in cohesion policy, projects below a certain amount are required to use simplified cost options. For non-IACS measures, this could be the option to simplify policy implementation.
  • Clarification of the conditions for the application of the principle of proportionality to ensure a cost-effectiveness ratio adapted to the challenges. Provision for document control when it offers a sufficient degree of certainty or even limit the control of the number of animals only to aid in conjunction with animal production.
  • Reducing the number of cases where a single request for force majeure is required, when control bodies have official evidence proving the occurrence of an event in a defined geographical area. For example extreme weather or fires.
  • Flexibility to redistribute unused funds between interventions with proper justification.
  • Flexibility to use up to 2% of the CAP Strategic Plan budget.
  • Definition of the temperature range corresponding to the temperature of melting ice to facilitate trade between Member States in fishery products.