MOF, Alm.del - 2017-18 - Endeligt svar på spørgsmål 539: Spm. om de væsentligste konklusioner vedrørende CAP-reformen, herunder regeringens vurdering af disse i lyset af de videre forhandlinger, til miljø- og fødevareministeren

Miljø- og Fødevareudvalget 2017-18
MOF Alm.del
Offentligt

Council of the

European Union

Brussels, 20 March 2018

(OR. en)

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AGRI 143

OUTCOME OF PROCEEDINGS

From:

On:

To:

Subject:

Presidency

19 March 2018

Delegations

Communication on "The Future of Food and Farming"

- Presidency conclusions

Following the debate at the "Agriculture and Fisheries" Council on 19 March 2018, delegations will

find in Annex the Presidency conclusions on the Communication on "The Future of Food and

Farming", supported by Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Greece,

Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal,

Romania, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom.

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MOF, Alm.del - 2017-18 - Endeligt svar på spørgsmål 539: Spm. om de væsentligste konklusioner vedrørende CAP-reformen, herunder regeringens vurdering af disse i lyset af de videre forhandlinger, til miljø- og fødevareministeren

ANNEX

Presidency Conclusions

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

HAVING REGARD to the Communication from the Commission on 'The Future of Food and

Farming' (COM(2017) 713 final) adopted on 29 November 2017;

WITHOUT PREJUDGING the negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework

(MFF) and pending further information on the Commission proposal for the future Common

Agricultural Policy (CAP);

RECALLING the added value of the CAP for farmers, citizens and society as a whole, and its

key role in providing safe, high-quality food in sufficient quantities, contributing to a fair

standard of living for farmers, protecting the environment, mitigating and adapting to climate

change, promoting animal welfare, creating jobs and growth, keeping rural areas strong and

sustainable, and maintaining agricultural production throughout the EU, in particular in areas

with natural constraints or other specific constraints;

ACKNOWLEDGING the important role of direct payments in providing income support,

remunerating farmers for the provision of public goods and services, supporting agricultural

activity in all parts of the EU and contributing to the protection of the environment and the

development of rural economies;

ACKNOWLEDGING that EU market support contributes to counter-balancing high price

volatility and reducing the impact on vulnerable agricultural markets of external factors.

STRESSING the importance of continued market orientation;

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RECOGNISING that rural development provides a pivotal contribution to the life and

resilience of rural areas and farming and boosts their vitality by creating growth, innovation

and employment opportunities and facilitating young people's access to farming.

RECALLING the principles and goals set out in the Cork 2.0 Declaration "A better life in

rural areas", adopted in September 2016;

Enhancing the CAP's added value to deliver on new challenges

CONSIDERS that, in spite of its merits, the CAP should be further improved by strengthening

the EU added value and by making the policy greener, simpler and more result-driven;

STRESSES the importance of a trust-based partnership with farmers and the need for farmers

to remain at the centre of the policy in order to successfully deliver on enhanced policy

objectives;

RECALLS the CAP's objectives as set out in Article 39 of the Treaty on the Functioning of

the European Union (TFEU), which are still valid and relevant:

increasing agricultural

productivity;

ii)

ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural community;

iii)

stabilising markets;

iv)

assuring the availability of supplies and

ensuring reasonable prices

for consumers;

10.

HIGHLIGHTS the need for the CAP to contribute to the Union's international obligations and

commitments, such as the COP21 Paris Agreement and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development. STRESSES the CAP's role in meeting citizens' expectations and its

contribution to the objectives of other relevant EU policies, in particular jobs and growth,

environment, climate change, biodiversity, health and nutrition, animal and plant diseases,

and animal welfare. On these grounds, SHARES the three main objectives for the future CAP

identified in the Commission's Communication;

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11.

HIGHLIGHTS the added value of the CAP and its ambitious objectives related to the

provision of public goods, particularly in relation to environmental protection and climate

change. ACKNOWLEDGES the need for discussions in the context of the MFF negotiations

to address an adequate level of support for the future CAP.

Empowering Member States to take decisions fitting local needs and specificities

12.

ENDORSES the view that Member States should enjoy more subsidiarity and flexibility to

take account of their national and regional specificities and to contribute to a more efficient

delivery of the policy;

13.

While in principle sharing the result-oriented approach of the proposed "new delivery model",

pending further information from the Commission, NOTES that there is a potential risk of

fragmentation of the CAP. Therefore, CALLS on the Commission to continue ensuring a level

playing field among Member States and the integrity of the internal market through basic

common rules at EU level;

14.

STRESSES that a new delivery model should bring substantial and tangible simplification

and reduction of administrative burden for both beneficiaries and national/regional

administrations. To this end, CALLS for simple CAP Strategic Plans, allowing flexibility in

their design and subsequent amendments, taking into account the division of competences

within each Member State, and for secondary legislation not to undermine the subsidiarity

approach and the simplification goal;

15.

HIGHLIGHTS that the CAP indicators should be simple, realistic, easily quantifiable,

controllable and applicable to local realities. They should be directly linked to the defined

CAP objectives and aligned with indicators and their definitions used in other relevant

policies, with the aim of streamlining Member States' reporting obligations. A mismatch on

output targets should not lead to automatic financial corrections;

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16.

HIGHLIGHTS that the audit and control systems should be based on the principles of

proportionality, simplification and single audit, focusing on achieving policy results. INSISTS

on the reduction of controls, which should be based on risk analysis, further relying on the use

of new technology, including satellite images;

17.

CALLS for the possibility for Member States to transfer funds between pillars.

Strengthening the resilience of the agricultural sector

18.

TAKES NOTE of the Commission's intention to explore instruments to make direct payments

more targeted. STRESSES the importance of providing the necessary flexibility to Member

States to take into consideration national specificities and needs, in particular of a voluntary

approach to targeting mechanisms;

19.

RECOGNISES the different views of Member States on the subject of external convergence

of direct payments. ACKNOWLEDGES that further discussions will be needed in the

framework of the negotiations on the MFF package;

20.

RECALLS that, following successive CAP reforms, the overwhelming volume of CAP

support is decoupled. RECOGNISES the importance of current voluntary coupled support

(VCS), in the form of area- or animal-related payments, for many Member States for

vulnerable sectors and types of farming, consistent with the EU commitments under the WTO

Agreement on Agriculture. RECALLS its commitment to CAP market orientation and

STRESSES the importance of not distorting market and trade in any specific sector;

21.

STRESSES that, in order to simplify direct payment provisions and facilitate generational

renewal in agriculture, as well as to take account of different national conditions, decoupled

area-based payment schemes (currently the Single Area Payment Scheme and the Basic

Payment Scheme) should continue to be available to all Member States, including the option

not to use payment entitlements;

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22.

RETAINS the role of the Common Market Organisation as a safety net and with regard to

market and crisis measures. CONSIDERS that measures could be explored in this regard,

including the development of programmes for other sectors on a voluntary basis, increased

market transparency and reinforcement of producer cooperation, in particular through

producer and interbranch organisations. NOTES the Commission's commitment to reflect on

how to strengthen farmers' position in the food supply chain;

23.

NOTES that the agricultural crisis reserve introduced in 2013 has not been used and

CONSIDERS that reflection is needed on how to improve its design and efficiency, including

exploring the possibility of a multiannual approach.

Fostering CAP's contribution to environmental objectives

24.

While recalling that farmers already contribute to environmental and climate protection,

SUPPORTS a higher level of environmental ambition for the CAP in the future, while

adequately remunerating farmers for the public goods they provide;

25.

AGREES that, while a common level of ambition and environmental objectives should be set

at EU level to ensure a level playing field, Member States should enjoy a higher level of

subsidiarity and flexibility in the implementation of environmental and climate measures,

respecting their territorial characteristics and local needs to design their specific interventions;

26.

Subject to further information and clarifications from the Commission on the proposed new

conditionality, SUPPORTS the Commission's intention to make the new "green architecture"

simple and more efficient and CALLS for the streamlining of the current requirements in

relation to greening and cross-compliance;

27.

STRESSES that, in addition to compensating for income forgone and costs incurred, effective

incentives should be provided to farmers engaging in more ambitious environmental and

climate practices going beyond the mandatory conditions;

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28.

CALLS for the coordination of environmental and climate interventions under both pillars to

be ensured, avoiding overlaps between them and taking into account the different

characteristics of the measures under each pillar. Measures under pillar II should remain

voluntary as at present.

Improving life in rural areas

29.

RECOGNISES the particular challenges rural areas are facing and EMPHASISES the need to

keep them vital and resilient, in particular by creating jobs, promoting growth, favouring

generational renewal in the farming sector and further developing the bioeconomy and the

circular economy;

30.

SUPPORTS the development of rural areas in an integrated manner, through a wide range of

actions (investments, connectivity and broadband, basic services, preservation of life and

nature, forestry, renewal of villages, digitalisation, etc.), making them more attractive places

to live and prosper; POINTS TO enhancing synergies with other relevant policy areas and EU

funds, in particular the European Structural and Investment Funds and the European Fund for

Strategic Investments (EFSI), to optimise the impact on rural development;

31.

NOTES the difficulties that young people face with regard to access to farming and CALLS

for the future CAP to address this common challenge as a priority, improving the supporting

instruments for generational renewal available under both pillars and their complementarity

with other EU and national measures;

32.

UNDERLINES the importance of fostering innovation and knowledge sharing in the farming

sector, as well as transferring research results into farming practice;

33.

EMPHASISES the positive experience of the LEADER approach and the importance of

continuing it;

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34.

While recognising the importance of non-refundable grants, CALLS for further efforts to

facilitate the implementation of financial instruments, on a voluntary basis, in order to

increase the potential of raising further private capital for investments in rural areas;

35.

HIGHLIGHTS that, following the lessons learned from the current Rural Development

Programmes, the future CAP Strategic Plans should be simpler, avoid overlapping with other

programming documents (such as current partnership agreements), rely on less complex and

more understandable rules and be approved in a quicker manner to allow for timely

implementation. CALLS for a simpler process for amending the CAP Strategic Plans

itinere,

as necessary. INSISTS on the positive experience of the "one-window approach"

regarding state aid to be continued and extended;

36.

WELCOMES the Commission's efforts to optimise the use of the existing risk management

tools and INVITES it to explore further voluntary measures and to reflect on better

coordination with existing national measures.

Looking forward

37.

INVITES the Commission to set up appropriate and functional mechanisms and procedures to

ensure the timely approval of the future CAP Strategic Plans and to avoid delays and

disruption in the disbursement of payments to farmers;

38.

CALLS on the Commission to support Member States, in a partnership-based approach, in the

process of designing and adapting CAP Strategic plans and in their implementation;

39.

LOOKS FORWARD to receiving the Commission's legislative proposals in order to allow the

co-legislators sufficient time for examination and negotiations;

40.

STRESSES the need to foresee a sufficiently long transitional period for Member States to

adapt to the new CAP delivery model. In this regard, CALLS upon the Commission to

provide Member States with the necessary assistance.

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