The European Commission today sent a document to the Belgian Presidency setting out actions to be discussed with Member States at the Agriculture Council on 26 February to reduce the administrative burden on farmers. Does this mean there will be less bureaucracy? Will simplifications be implemented in laws and regulations?
- The European Commission has developed a document containing proposals for urgent actions to be implemented in the field of the CAP.
- He will present it at the Agriculture Council meeting on February 26.
- This is the EC’s response to the current crisis situation in the agricultural sector.
- When considering proposals for simplification, the Commission took into account the impact of these proposals on the environmental objectives and ambitions of the Common Agricultural Policy.
- The Commission is also working on actions to improve farmers’ position in the food chain.
In this document, the EC lists a number of short- and medium-term actions that can be taken to achieve simplification on many levels.
The actions listed in the document take into account contributions from national administrations, the main agricultural organizations in the EU and the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture.
The simplification document implements the commitment made by President von der Leyen at the European Council on 1 February 2024.
Simplification at EU and then national level
The current CAP delivery model, with CAP Strategic Plans agreed and implemented at national level, is already a step forward in terms of simplification and subsidiarity compared to the previous period.
Member States play a key role in keeping administrative burdens on farmers limited and proportionate in order to achieve the objectives of EU legislation.
Therefore, any successful simplification must be carried out in close cooperation with national administrations and farmers themselves.
To this end, the Commission will launch an online survey directly to farmers in the coming days.
This targeted consultation will help identify the main sources of concern and understand the sources of administrative burden and complexity arising from the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as well as other EU food and farming rules in the EU, and their application at national level.
This study will provide a clearer picture of the main administrative obstacles farmers see and encounter by the summer. Its results will be included in a more detailed analysis, which will be published in autumn 2024.
In what areas does the EC plan to introduce simplifications?
1. Firstly, the Commission will simplify some of the environmental requirements that farmers must meet.
A set of core standards – called GAEC (good agricultural and environmental conditions) standards – which all farmers must comply with to receive CAP support – have proven difficult to implement in some circumstances. The Commission has already taken action by granting a partial exemption from the rules on fallow land, the so-called GKR 8. The Commission will now amend the rules on the first standard (GAEC 1), which imposes an obligation to keep permanent grassland areas in the EU unchanged from the reference year 2018. The Commission will also review what agricultural practices are possible during sensitive periods while implementing the obligation soil cover in accordance with GAEC 6. The Commission also invites all interested parties to share their views on the administrative burdens that may be associated with the nitrates Directive. This can be done through an online public consultation open until March 8, 2024.
2. Secondly, the Commission will simplify the methodology of some inspections in order to reduce the number of farm visits by national administrations by up to 50%.
This measure is a direct response to requests from Member States. The Commission is improving and clarifying how to assess the quality of the site monitoring system. The latter is a system based on the automatic analysis of satellite images from the Copernicus program, which is intended to reduce inspections on farms, help farmers avoid mistakes and penalties, and facilitate reporting. With fewer administration visits for management purposes, farmers will have more time for their core work.
3. The Commission will clarify the application of the concepts of force majeure and exceptional circumstances
This legal concept allows farmers who cannot meet all CAP requirements due to exceptional and unpredictable events beyond their control (e.g. severe droughts or floods) to not be penalized. This clarification will help national administrations in the application of this provision and ensure its uniform application throughout the Union. This will also increase the certainty of CAP support for farmers affected by such unfortunate events. More generally, the Commission will work with Member States to identify possible ways to rationalize controls.
The Commission is also considering additional medium-term measures that could reduce the burden on farmers, especially small farmers, and may consider proposing changes to the CAP basic regulations agreed by the European Parliament and the Council in 2021 to this end. One proposal for the future could be to exempt small farms of less than 10 hectares from compliance with conditionality (GAEC) inspections.
This exemption would greatly simplify the daily work of small farmers, who make up 65% of CAP beneficiaries, while maintaining the environmental ambitions of the CAP, as small farms only cover 9.6% of the areas receiving CAP support. Furthermore, in the event of a medium-term revision of the Basic Regulations, the GAEC 8 standards on fallow land, the GAEC 7 standards on crop rotation and the GAEC 6 standards on soil cover could be revised to further reduce the burden on farmers.
In parallel, the Commission will facilitate the exchange of best practices on simplification by Member States between the various bodies working with Member States (i.e. expert groups, committees and others).
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