Negotiations for the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) continue in Brussels, with member states required to submit strategic plans for the policy for commission approval by January 1 next, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed.
Speaking before the Oireachtas Joint Committee for Agriculture, Food and the Marine yesterday (Tuesday, January 22), Colm Hayes, assistant secretary with the department, provided an update of how the department is progressing in terms of the next CAP.
Hayes said: “While the key changes have been considered in these discussions so far, the changes have yet to be finalised.
“There are two main factors which mitigate against providing more details today on the design of our national CAP strategic plan and the individual schemes, namely that the relevant regulations are some way off being agreed at EU level and the budget to fund the next CAP is not yet finalised.”
Points of concern
Outlining key points of concern for Ireland, the department official stressed the increased onus being placed on individual member states to design strategies best applicable to their agriculture sectors.
“The new delivery model and the requirement to prepare a CAP strategic plan covering Pillar I and II expenditure for the first time is perhaps the most significant change for member states to have to contend with in the new proposals.”
The secretary said that preparation of the new CAP strategic plan will present a number of challenges and complexities for member states.
The current proposals require member states to submit their draft CAP strategic plan to the commission for approval before the deadline of January 1, 2020.
The assistant secretary said that this strategic plan will involve SWOT analysis, a needs assessment, scheme design, ex-ante evaluation, including a strategic environmental assessment and appropriate assessment.
“Our department is working towards this January 1 deadline, albeit amidst uncertainty surrounding agreement on funding and the final decision on the draft regulations,” he added.
“We have tendered for consultants to take up the baton in terms of designing the needs analysis, and the needs analysis is really around taking our SWOT analysis, what’s needed out there on the ground in terms of environmental measures, farm incomes, what’s the market supporting and not supporting and all these other various factors, and then coming up with ideas for schemes.
“The consultants we expect to be appointing in mid-February,” he said.
We would expect them to hit the ground running around the end of February, early March – and they will obviously be engaged in some form, yet to be decided, in consultation with stakeholders as well.
Turning to the environment, Hayes noted that 40% of the CAP’s overall budget is expected to be directed towards climate change action.
He pointed to climate action measures currently being implemented, including BDGP, TAMS, the incoming BEEP and work carried out by Bord Bia and Teagasc.
“While a lot has already been done, we know there is no easy pass for the agricultural sector when it comes to tackling our climate and environment objectives and more needs to be done in this space.”
The new environmental conditionality provision set out in the draft proposals will need to be implemented effectively, according to the official.
“We believe consideration should be given to the applicability of the additional mandatory requirements under Pillar I to particular local conditions or farm types; for example a farm sustainability tool, which is applicable to more intensive farms, may have less relevance of course for a small-scale, more extensive farm.
There is also a balance to be struck between mandatory baseline established in the eco scheme under Pillar I and the environmental measures under Pillar II.
“Member states will need to be allowed sufficient flexibility to implement measures under Pillar I which do not set the bar impossibly high for the voluntary schemes under Pillar II.”
Other key areas of concern include the capping of direct payments and the definition of a “genuine farmer”, Hayes said.
“While Minister Creed has said we are open to the capping of direct payments, we do not agree with the mandatory requirement to deduct salaries and labour as part of this process.
“We believe it would create an unnecessary and significant administrative burden on member states that goes against the spirit of modernising and simplifying the CAP.”
“The mandatory requirement for member states to define the genuine farmer in their CAP strategic plan is something we also have a difficulty with due to the nature of the proposed definition. Our department will be considering this in the coming months.”
Budget cut ‘unacceptable’
Turning to negotiations surrounding the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), Hayes described the proposed 5% cut to the budget as unacceptable for Ireland, adding that a restoration of these cuts is being sought.
Protecting the CAP budget in the next MFF is a priority for Ireland, he added.
“When it comes to timing, the commission’s objective is to have the CAP legislative proposals adopted by the co-legislators in the spring, prior to the European Parliamentary elections in May.
“This is a challenging timescale but we are fully supportive and fully engaged in the negotiation process in an effort to achieve this objective,” he said.