In this morning’s meeting, Member States’ representatives in the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) gave a positive signal by endorsing the simplification measures proposed by the European Commission. Copa and Cogeca reiterate their support of the simplification package and welcome this move by the European Commission, which shows an understanding of the difficulties faced on the ground.
Copa and Cogeca believe that these changes will provide more flexibility to farmers in implementing the transition towards a more sustainable agriculture in a way which considers the soil, climatic and local conditions, and specificities across the EU. Most of all we expect these simplification measures to facilitate changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) National Strategic Plans and make their approval process much faster.
These measures don’t alter the main objectives of the CAP but provide the necessary flexibility for farmers to be able to adapt their practices and respond in a sustainable way to the ever-aggravating pressures from more frequent climatic events, geopolitical instability, and market uncertainties.
The measures must be applied retroactively to January 2024 and must provide much needed predictability and stability for farmers until 2027.
We now call upon the European Parliament to swiftly engage and provide positive feedback by the end of April on the proposals so that they can be implemented by farmers on the ground.
Fonte: Copa Cogeca
