Brussels, 19 March 2024
Honourable members,
Thank you for inviting me to this Committee meeting – I am very happy to join you today, for an important discussion, at an important moment.
Over the past number of months, farmers have taken to the streets, and raised their voice on a number of significant issues, including: administrative burdens, market disturbances, unpredictable incomes, and a lack of fairness in the supply chain.
Over the past number of weeks, the Commission has listened to these concerns, and has delivered a response.
On 12 February, we adopted the partial derogation of GAEC 8, which modifies the requirements in a way that does not require taking land out of production. The derogation is applied by 24 Member States.
On 12 March, we adopted the revised rules on the calculation of permanent grassland for GAEC 1, which is now subject to your scrutiny and the scrutiny of the Council. I hope you can deal with this swiftly.
We also revised the methodology of the Area Monitoring System Quality Assessment and discussed it with Member States. This will, in some Member States, reduce the need to visit farms by 50%.
The latest step in our response comes in the package of proposals adopted last Friday, 15 March.
There are two parts to this package:
- First, we worked on reducing the administrative burden for farmers.
- Second, we put forward a non-paper, which sets out our preliminary views on actions to improve the position of farmers in the food supply chain.
Let me open up this package, starting with the simplification proposals.
The simplification package
These proposals aim to amend the CAP Strategic Plan Regulation and the Horizontal Regulation with a set of targeted adjustments to address difficulties in the implementation of conditionality and management of the Strategic Plans.
First of all, a general provision is included allowing Member States to provide for temporary derogations from certain conditionality requirements in cases when weather conditions prevent farmers from complying with relevant requirements, such as deadlines in a given year.
Member States will also be allowed to provide specific exemptions from GAECs 5, 6, 7 or 9 covering situations where there is a risk that complying with the requirements would run counter to their objectives.
As regards individual GAECs:
The application of GAEC 6 has caused considerable administrative restraints and uncertainties for farmers, as it does not take into account the increasing variability of the weather. Therefore, the Commission proposes more flexibility in implementing this requirement. In effect, the conditions will be established almost entirely by Member States.
With regard to GAEC 7 the Commission proposes to keep crop rotation, but allow Member States to add the possibility to fulfil this requirement with crop diversification. We believe that this flexibility will enable farmers affected by regular drought or excessive rainfall to comply with this condition in a way that is more compatible with farming realities.
On GAEC 8 we propose to remove the obligation for each farmer to devote a minimum share of arable land to non-productive areas or features. Instead, Member States would be required to establish an eco-scheme offering support to farmers for keeping non-productive areas or to create new landscape features. This would ensure that farmers are incentivised and rewarded for these practices, thereby continuing to contribute to biodiversity objectives.
We also propose to exempt small farmers having no more than 10 hectares of agricultural area from conditionality controls and penalties. The purpose is to alleviate the administrative burden for small farms, which is more significant compared to larger ones, as well as for national administrations.
Additionally, we propose that amendments to GAEC 6, 7 and 8, as well as the exemption from penalties for small farmers, can be applied already in 2024.
Furthermore, we propose to modify Article 120, to limit the obligation to review the CAP strategic plans only to acts that enter into force or application until December 2025.
Finally, we will also propose to increase the number of requests for amendment to two amendments per year.
I would also like to highlight that we have recently launched a survey on the administrative burden targeted directly to farmers.
The survey is open until 8 April and it has already generated a lot of interest, close to 10.000 responses already. I invite all European farmers to participate.
Non-paper on the position of farmers in the value chain
The second part of the package is focused on strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain.
Farmers deserve to be fairly treated, the same as any other economic operator. And the protests show that we need to take action, to reinforce fairness and to restore farmers’ trust in the supply chain. This will benefit all operators, including consumers.
Therefore, the Commission has set out a range of immediate, short-term, and medium to long-term proposals, which aim to address the functioning of the supply chain, the distribution of value added, and the remuneration of farmers.
These are exploratory ideas, to be further developed in cooperation with you, with Member States, and with stakeholders.
The immediate measures are of non-legislative nature and could be implemented in the coming weeks. They include:
- the creation of an observatory on production costs, margins and trading practices;
- and the adoption of a report on the implementation of the Directive on Unfair Trading Practices.
The Commission is also exploring targeted changes to the CMO Regulation, with the aim of reducing transaction costs and correcting imbalances in the value chain.
- One area of focus is enhancing EU-level provisions on contracts involving farmers. Many EU farmers still face uncertainties about the prices paid for their products, quantities, and other conditions due to the absence of written contracts.
- Another area of focus is on how we can reinforce CAP support for co-operation among farmers and with other supply-chain actors, empowering them to collectively strengthen their bargaining power.
- And the last area of focus is related to giving more credibility and visibility to voluntary fair-trade and short supply schemes. These initiatives address concerns shared by farmers and consumers, contributing to the social dimension of sustainable food systems. In this regard, the new provisions in the CMO could define minimum standards for them and set conditions for extending sustainability agreements to include social dimensions.
Besides changes to the existing legal acts, the Commission will also propose a new EU Regulation on cross-border enforcement of UTPs, complementing the existing UTP Directive. The experience of the UTP enforcement authorities has shown that cross-border enforcement can be difficult, when a buyer is not located in the same Member States as a supplier. The powers of the national enforcement authorities could therefore be strengthened, and their cooperation enhanced to facilitate effective and efficient cross-border enforcement, exchanges of information, and collection of penalties.
Finally, the Commission recommends sticking to the timeline established by the co-legislators concerning the evaluation of the UTP Directive. The Directive is still relatively new, and even if transposed by all Member States, they are only starting to enforce it. Let us wait for the report that the Commission will present in 2025, accompanied or followed, if appropriate, by legislative proposals.
New Zealand FTA
Before concluding, I would like to briefly address the Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand, which I understand is of interest to many of you.
On 13 March, I sent you for scrutiny the Delegated Act for the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand as regards tariff rate quotas (or TRQs).
The Agreement introduced several new TRQs and amended some existing ones for products originating in New Zealand.
This delegated act is therefore legally needed to implement the agreement as regards the management of TRQs. There is nothing sensitive in it and it certainly does not entail any further discussions or modifications of already agreed TRQ levels contained in the FTA agreement. We are in fact simply putting in motion what has been agreed.
The urgency for this act stems from the fact that we expect the notification of completion of ratification procedures by New Zealand to happen faster than expected. The date of entry into force of the Agreement will thus be 1 May 2024.
I am convinced that you share with me the objective for a timely implementation of the Agreement, which has obtained overwhelming support in this house.
That is why I seek your assistance and support to minimise the period of scrutiny of this Delegated Act and to communicate the formal consent of the European Parliament in the form of an early non-objection as soon as possible.
Conclusion
To conclude,
I want to reiterate what I have said on many occasions: farmers can count on European support.
I believe the package I have presented today is well balanced, and provides a significant response to the concerns raised by farmers, Member States, and this Committee.
The package also maintains the overall orientation of the current CAP and its key role in supporting the transition of European agriculture to more sustainable farming.
We continue to ensure an overall high level of ambition. The GAEC system and the budgetary ring-fencing remain in place, alongside a wide range of other key tools.
We all share the objective to provide a stable and predictable food system for the years ahead.
It is essential that Member States play their part, make full use of the new flexibilities introduced and do not impose requirements that go beyond what is requested under the CAP legislation.
I count on you to play your role of co-legislator in a responsible and constructive way, and to facilitate a quick adoption.
It is of utmost importance that both the Parliament and the Council adopt this regulation quickly, so that farmers can feel the changes already in 2024. Otherwise, the changes will only be felt in 2025.
Therefore, I strongly encourage the European Parliament to deal with this file as quickly as possible, in close collaboration with the Council Presidency, so that the new rules can be in place as soon as possible, instead of waiting until after the Parliament’s elections.
On that note, I look forward to our exchange of views, and I count on your support, so that farmers can benefit from these changes as quickly as possible.
Thank you.
Source – EU Commission