The EU approves exempting small farmers from environmental controls and sanctions

The member states of the European Union (EU) This Tuesday they gave their approval to the measures that soften the environmental requirements of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)in response to the protests of the farmers.

The changes supported by the countries affect some of the environmental practices that must be met as a condition to receive subsidies of the CAP and exempt small farms (less than 10 hectares) from controls and sanctions related to cross compliance requirements.

The approval was given by the Special Committee on Agriculture, made up of senior officials from the countries responsible for agricultural policy. Before the amendments take effect, they must also be approved by the European Parliament.

The changes in the CAP, proposed by the European Comission on March 15, they address the “issues” detected in relation to the implementation of the strategic plans in which the countries indicate how they will apply the Common Agricultural Policy, as indicated by the EU Council, which represents the countries, in a statement.

The modifications are also intended simplify the rules, reduce the administrative burden and “provide greater flexibility to meet certain environmental conditionalities”according to the Council.

The approval of the countries was given before the meeting of the EU Agriculture Ministers this Tuesday in Brussels and the Spanish head, Luis Planas, said that Spain came “with the desire that we reach that qualified majority necessary for the prompt approval of this package,” so that it can come into force “immediately and with retroactive effects from last January 1.” He pointed out that the measures were supported by a qualified majority in the Special Committee on Agriculture and only Germany expressed reservations. In any case, a formal vote was not held, but it was simply established that there was sufficient support.

To receive CAP payments, farmers until now had to meet a series of nine principles respectful of the environment and climate, also called “conditionalities”. The changes endorsed this Tuesday introduce exemptions in some of these principles.

In it case of minimum soil coverage in the most sensitive periodsMember States will have more flexibility to decide which soils to protect and in which season, based on national and regional specificities.

Refering to crop rotation, will continue to be the usual practice, but countries will be able to use crop diversification as an alternative. The Council specified that this is less demanding for farmers, especially in areas affected by drought or high rainfall.

Furthermore, farmers will only be required to maintain non-productive elements such as hedges or trees and they will be encouraged, on a voluntary basis, to keep land fallow or to create new non-productive elements through eco-schemes.

The CAP review also exempts small farms of less than ten hectares of controls and sanctions related to the CAP cross-compliance requirements. This measure will affect 65% of CAP beneficiaries, which, however, only represent around 10% of agricultural land. Planas said that in Spain he will benefit 345,000 CAP filers, which represents “more than 50%.”

On the other hand, Member States will be allowed to “grant temporary and specific exemptions from certain cross-compliance requirements in case of unforeseen weather conditions that prevent farmers from complying with them.

The Council indicated that once a year Countries must inform the Commission of such exceptions. The changes will also guarantee that countries can modify their CAP strategic plans twice a year on a permanent basis, instead of once, as has happened until now.

The Council of the EU specified that the president of the Special Committee on Agriculture will now send a letter to the European Parliament to be able to approve these CAP changes through the emergency procedure, before the European elections. The Parliament's Agriculture Committee has already decided to use this emergency procedure and the plenary session of the European Parliament is expected to vote on the measures in the week of April 22 to 25. The modifications will then have to be adopted by the Council, signed by the Council and the European Parliament and published in the official journal of the Union. “If everything goes as planned, the regulation will come into force at the end of spring”the Council reported.