Following the deal on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020, negotiations on the package of outstanding Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform issues, i.e. those not covered by the political agreement from 26 June, could be launched as early as in September, Agriculture committee’s coordinators said on Monday. Parliament’s negotiators will prepare compromise proposals and present them to the Lithuanian presidency and to the Commission after the summer break.
Pending CAP reform issues are linked to the direct payments, rural development and the horizontal regulations. They include capping of direct payments to the largest agricultural holdings, transfers between the two CAP pillars (national direct payment ceilings and rural development budget), external convergence (i.e. making the allocation of direct payments among member states fairer and more balanced), co-financing of rural development programmes, distribution on rural development funding among member states and the crisis reserve.
“On 26 June we reached a political agreement on most issues of the CAP reform. Now we need to conclude the negotiations on the remaining pieces of the future EU farm policy puzzle in a timely manner to give our farmers clear and reliable information about the new CAP rules well in advance before they enter into force”, chairman of the Agriculture committee and the head of Parliament’s negotiating team, Paolo De Castro (S&D, IT), told Lithuanian minister of agriculture and president-in-office of the Agriculture Council, Virgilijus Jukna, during the Agriculture committee meeting on Tuesday.
Parliament’s negotiators will prepare compromise proposals and present them to the Lithuanian presidency and to the Commission in early September. The provisional timetable of trilateral talks on the outstanding issues will have to be agreed by all three institutions.
Monday, 8 July 2013 and Tuesday, 9 July 2013
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
In the chair: Paolo De Castro (S&D, IT)
Source: European Parliament