The changes affect certain environmental practices that must be met as a condition to receive subsidies and exempt small farms from controls and sanctions.
The Member States of the European Union (EU) approved this Tuesday the measures that soften the EU’s environmental requirements Common agricultural policy (PAC), in response to farmers’ protests.
The changes supported by countries affect some of the environmental practices that must be met as a condition for receiving CAP subsidies and exempt small farms (less than 10 hectares) from cross-compliance controls and sanctions. According to the initiators, the changes are intended to simplify the rules, reduce administrative burdens and “provide greater flexibility to meet certain environmental conditions”.
Until now, to receive CAP payments, farmers had to meet a set of nine environmentally and climate-friendly principles, known as ‘conditions’. The changes approved today introduce exceptions to some of these environmentally friendly principles.
These are some measures:
— In the case of minimum land cover in the most sensitive periods, Member States will have more flexibility to decide which soils to protect and in which season, based on national and regional particularities.
— As for crop rotation, this will remain the usual practice, but countries will be able to use crop diversification as an alternative. The Council has indicated that this is less demanding for farmers, especially in areas affected by drought or heavy rainfall.
— In addition, farmers will only be required to maintain non-productive features such as hedges or trees and will be encouraged on a voluntary basis to maintain fallow land or create new non-productive features through eco-schemes.
— The revision of the CAP also exempts small agricultural holdings of less than ten hectares from controls and sanctions related to CAP cross-compliance.
— Member States will be allowed to grant “temporary and specific exemptions from certain cross-compliance requirements in the event of unforeseen weather conditions that prevent farmers from complying.”
The Council of the EU has indicated that the chairman of the Special Committee on Agriculture will now send a letter to the European Parliament to approve these changes to the CAP through the emergency procedure. before the European elections.
The amendments will then have to be adopted by the Council, signed by the Council and the European Parliament and published in the official gazette of the Union.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
