Agreement on Reform of the Common Agriculture Policy
The European Council has reached political agreement on the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). The agreement comprises proposals for regulations on:
* Direct payments to farmers. This regulation seeks to ensure better target support for specific actions, areas or beneficiaries and pave the way for convergence through equal distribution of direct support within and across member states.
* A common organisation of the markets in agricultural products. This regulation aims to streamline, expand and simplify the current provisions on public intervention, private storage, exceptional or emergency measures and aid to specific sectors, as well as to facilitate cooperation through producer and interbranch organisations.
* Support for rural development. This regulation covers voluntary measures for rural development, adapted to national and regional specificities, whereby member states will draw up and co-finance multiannual programmes under a common framework in cooperation with the EU.
* Financing, management and monitoring of the CAP. This horizontal regulation lays down rules concerning expenditure, the farm advisory system, management and control systems to be put in place by member states, cross-compliance and clearance of accounts.
“This is a really significant step forward for the process of agreeing on a final CAP reform so that we can give certainty to our farmers, to our agro-food industry, to NGOs and to rural communities across the European Union of the support system that the European Union can offer, and what it is going to look like for the next seven years,” says Irish Minister Simon Coveney. “It will support competitive, productive, sustainable, environmentally responsible food production in the EU and keep rural communities intact.”
The agreement of a Council position will enable negotiations with the European Parliament to be launched with a view to achieving political agreement by the end of June. “I’m delighted that we now have a very strong endorsement for a Council negotiating position on all four of the regulations for the CAP reform,” adds Simon Coveney.
