News

The Ministers of Agriculture of the EU Member States met on 24/09/2019 at the informal Council of Ministers held under the Finnish Presidency. The main topic of the discussion was the problem of carbon storage in soil (sequestration). Ministers discussed ways to enhance carbon sequestration to limit further negative impacts of human activity on the climate. According to Finnish Minister of Agriculture Jari Leppä, strengthening carbon sequestration is the best way to reduce carbon emissions from agricultural activity. Supporting research and innovation in the field of good agricultural practices is crucial, but some results can be seen only after a long period of time. Leppä also stated that sharing good practice and the need to improve measurement methods is a must. Current Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan said that strengthening carbon sequestration will be essential also in view of the plans of the new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to achieve carbon neutrality in the EU by 2050. Von der Leyen should present plans for achieving carbon neutrality at the beginning of 2020. Representatives of the environmental organization EEB (European Environmental Bureau) were also invited to the informal Council. EEB President Jouni Nissinen said during the Council that the CAP must stop supporting agricultural practices that are unfavourable to the climate and the environment, and CAP support should only be addressed to those farmers who respect cross-compliance. According to Nissinen, half of the post-2020 CAP budget should therefore be allocated to climate-friendly activities and practices. Member State ministers more or less agreed that the new CAP implementation mechanism provides a good basis for CAP reform, but encouraged greater flexibility and subsidiarity in the preparation of national strategy plans, allowing Member States to take into account regional or local specificities.
More information is available here.

The Council of the European Union, led by Finland, submitted on 05/09/2019 a proposal to modify certain articles of the European Commission proposal on the CAP post-2020, which had already been amended by the Romanian Presidency in the past. The changes concern, for example, standards for good agricultural and environmental condition of land (DZES) or mandatory management requirements (PPH). The Council proposes to delete the DZES 5 completely from the proposal, i.e. the use of the Agricultural Nutrition Sustainability Tool, and to remove also PPH 7 to 11, i.e. pig identification and registration (PPH 7), cattle identification and registration and beef labelling (PPH 8), identification of sheep and goats (PPH 9), prevention, control and eradication of certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (PPH 10), and restrictions on foot-and-mouth disease, swine vesicular disease and bluetongue (PPH 11).
More information is available here.

Croatia will take over EU Presidency from 01/01/2020. According to the newly appointed Croatian Minister of Agriculture Marije Vučković, the reform of the CAP post 2020 will be the main priority of the Croatian Presidency. Vučković hopes in concluding the agreement on the CAP post 2020 by the end of 2019, and then Croatia would have the opportunity to lead the European Parliament, European Commission and Council trialogues on the CAP. However, according to the new minister, it will depend on whether Member States will soon agree on the EU post-2020 budget and whether the European Parliament will be able to adopt its position on the CAP by the end of the year. The Croatian Minister rejected not only the proposal to reduce the CAP budget, but also to achieve external convergence of direct payments per hectare. Croatia is the sixth EU country with the highest payments, on average around EUR 350 per hectare - reducing them to Member States where direct payments do not reach 90% of the EU average would put the viability of the Croatian agricultural sector at risk, Vučković said. Ministers will have to agree on the timely adoption of the transitional rules to avoid possible interruptions in the payment of CAP aid, the transitional rules should be submitted by the Commission according to unofficial information by the end of October 2019, to be set for one year should be in force since 2021. In addition to CAP reform, other priorities could include animal health and the occurrence of African swine fever.

The Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) discussed on 23/09/2019 the Common Agricultural Policy post 2020 and the setting of certain definitions in the CAP reform. Officials from the Permanent Representations or the Ministries of the Member States responsible for the CAP were mainly concerned with the definition of a real farmer or eligible hectares. In the case of the definition of eligible hectares, the Romanian Presidency proposed to include in the definition landscape features that are required under DZES 9 - but many Member States disagreed with the proposal, while other Member States require that the Finnish Presidency add to the definition even more landscape features. According to SCA representatives, further technical meetings of experts will be necessary on this point to reach a compromise. As for the definition of a real farmer, almost all Member States supported the voluntary implementation of the definition. However, the European Commission has stressed on several occasions the need to introduce a more precise mandatory definition of a real farmer.
More information is available here.

Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan said last week that the European institutions could reach an agreement to reform the Common Agricultural Policy by the end of 2019. According to Hogan, both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union are planning to approve their opinions by this deadline. Similarly, according to the Commissioner for Agriculture, Member States should reach an agreement on the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework after 2020 by the end of the year. The rules for transitional measures are likely to be published by the Commission during October 2019, with a transitional period of one year.