This Thursday, Brussels called on European farmers to express themselves online about the weight of administrative tasks in their work, with a view to the simplification of CAP rules demanded by Member States after weeks of anger in this sector.
The European Commission has launched an online survey, accessible from March 7 to April 8, in order to
“
directly collect
”
the opinions of farmers in the Twenty-Seven.
Preliminary results are expected
“
by mid-April
”
.
The survey offers questions available in all languages of the Union, in particular on the time spent on administrative tasks and mandatory declarations to obtain aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and satisfy controls.
Other points discussed: the complexity of the different procedures, or the need or not for support to understand the rules and prepare requests for aid.
So many reasons which have fueled the vast movement of anger among farmers across the EU since the beginning of January, with many farmers demonstrating to denounce the regulatory
“
burden
”
of the new CAP implemented since January 2023.
“
The responses will provide a valuable feedback to understand their concerns and identify the sources of administrative burden and complexity arising from the CAP rules, both on their application at national level and on the registration and reporting obligations
"
, underlines the European executive .
Also read: The CAP, the “elephant in the stable” of European farms
Exemption on fallow land
After a partial exemption already approved on fallow land, Brussels has proposed a temporary relaxation for this year on the obligations to maintain permanent meadows, and several States are also asking for flexibilities on crop rotation.
Likewise, the European executive proposed to
“
simplify the methodology for certain controls
”
, with a view to
“
reducing by up to 50
% the number of visits to farms carried out by national administrations
”
.
The idea would be to make greater use of imagery from the European Copernicus satellite program, in order to reduce on-site inspections and help farmers
“
avoid mistakes
”
.
At the same time, at the request of States, the Commission is working on legislative revisions of the CAP - which will require negotiations with the European Parliament - to simplify the rules in the long term.
This would, for example, involve exempting small farms of less than 10 hectares from controls linked to compliance with environmental conditions, Brussels suggested in February.
The Commission must also present to the Member States in March proposals for action on prices in the agri-food sector, market
“
transparency
”
and production costs.