Statements on Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 December 2021 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 (1)

(2021/C 488/02)

Statement by the Council on the simplification of the CAP

The New Delivery Model (NDM) should allow the replacement of compliance-based clearance of expenditure by a performance-based clearance of expenditure, leaving the conception of control and sanction systems at national level, which is a matter of subsidiarity left to the Member States.

The Council requests that the provisions to be issued by the Commission in the future guidelines take full account of the rationale of the New Delivery Model. They should not lead to the reintroduction of compliance requirements that go beyond the scope defined by Article 37 of the horizontal regulation.

In particular, they should provide a better framework for the procedure to determine the amounts to be excluded from EU financing, in line with the current programming, taking into account the nature of the infringement in order to ensure that they are proportionate to the level of financial damage caused to the EU, particularly for the impacts of conditionality-related anomalies. In this regard, we would urge that the definition of serious deficiencies in the governance systems be further clarified. A deficiency can be detected when assessing the functioning of the governance bodies and the basic Union requirements including the reporting systems. This can be done by a review of the internal control system, including compliance testing. Financial corrections should be limited to scenarios where serious systematic deficiencies in the governance systems are detected. The amount to be excluded should be related to the amount unduly spent or to the administrative sanctions that would have been applied. The use of flat rate corrections should be limited to cases where it is impossible to calculate the exact amount unduly spent.

Furthermore, the guidelines will have to provide that the verifications expected from the certification bodies are limited, as regards the evaluation of the governance systems, to the management of the Union rules by these systems without extending it to the conditions of eligibility of individual beneficiaries laid down in the CAP Strategic Plans.

The Council asks the Commission to ensure, in accordance with the announced objectives, that the new delivery model does not lead to a significant increase of the burden for the Member States, but rather to an overall simplification, while guaranteeing the protection of the financial interests of the Union, in particular through the approval procedure of the CAP Strategic Plans and the implementation of Article 59 of the horizontal regulation. The Council also asks the Commission not to cancel the administrative gains from the introduction of the new Delivery Model by demanding additional reporting for monitoring and evaluation.

Joint statement by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on further measures to protect the Union budget against fraud and irregularities by requiring a generalised application of a single data-mining tool in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy

The Council and the European Parliament commit to examining a proposal on the compulsory use of a data-mining tool in the Member States, following the Commission’s report by 2025 assessing the use of the single data-mining tool and its interoperability with a view to its generalised use by Member States.

Statement by the Commission on certification bodies in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy

The Commission takes note of the insertion of the new recital 13 into Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy regarding the communication of information on appointed certification bodies. The Commission receives information from the Member States on the appointment of public and private certification bodies and it keeps an up-to-date register of these bodies for monitoring purposes. The Commission recalls its commitment to communicate annually the list of the appointed certification bodies to the Parliament.

Statement by the Commission on the EAFRD de-commitments in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy

The Commission confirms that, if there is a risk of de-commitment of EAFRD funding, the relevant services of the Commission shall send a letter to the Member States’ authorities to alert them of that risk in sufficient time before the applicable deadline of the automatic de-commitment. The purpose of that letter is to encourage an increase in the absorption of EAFRD funding and to explore with Member States what can be done to that effect.

The Commission endeavours to avoid de-commitments also where specific circumstances apply. To that end, the relevant rules laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy to interrupt the period for de-commitments in the event of on-going legal proceedings or administrative appeals will be fully applied. Moreover, in particular, the rule not to apply de-commitments in the event that budget commitments were not used for reasons of force majeure seriously affecting the implementation of the CAP Strategic Plans will be fully complied with.

Statement by the Commission on bundling of empowerments in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy

The Commission recalls its commitment to observe the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making. Point 31 of that Agreement states that, on condition that the Commission provides objective justifications based on the substantive link between two or more empowerments contained in a single legislative act, empowerments may be bundled. Consultations in the preparation of delegated acts also serve to indicate which empowerments are considered to be substantially linked.

Statement by the Commission on further measures to protect the EU budget against fraud and irregularities by requiring an obligatory use of a single data-mining tool provided by the Commission

In the Inter-institutional Agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management, as well as on new own resources, including a roadmap for the introduction of new own resources, Points 30 to 33 require the Commission to make available an integrated and interoperable information and monitoring system including a single data-mining and risk-scoring tool to access and analyse the required data with a view to a generalised application by Member States. In addition, the three institutions agreed to sincerely cooperate, in the course of the legislative procedure relating to the relevant basic acts, to ensure the follow up to the European Council conclusions of July 2020 regarding this element.

The Commission welcomes the new provisions introducing the requirement for the Commission to make available a single data-mining tool and on the publication of groups in the articles in the Horizontal Regulation, however, the approach agreed by the co-legislators for the CAP does not appropriately reflect the desired ambition and spirit of the Inter-institutional Agreement. However, the Commission notes that similarly to the agreement for the Common provisions Regulation the use of the tool by the Member States is not obligatory. Therefore, in line with the Statement made by the Commission on the agreement reached by the co-legislators in the Common Provisions Regulation, the Commission considers that the agreement reached by the co-legislators for the CAP under Article 59(2) (Protection of the financial interests of the Union) on the use of a single data-mining tool, and the collection and publication of data on groups in Article 98 (Transparency) does not sufficiently enhance the protection of the Union budget against fraud and irregularities and to ensure efficient checks on conflicts of interest, irregularities, issues of double funding, and criminal misuse of the funds. The Commission therefore also welcomes the Joint Statement on the single data-mining tool by the three institutions.

Joint statement by the European Parliament and the Commission on annual performance monitoring in the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy

The European Parliament and the Commission recall that, in view of the new delivery model and the performance framework to be established in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2023-2027, the annual performance reports, annual monitoring and the biennial performance review are of significant importance to uphold the ambitions set out in the CAP Strategic Plans.

In that context, the European Parliament and the Commission agree that it is necessary for the Commission to report annually to the European Parliament, in the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, on the progress made in the scope of the annual performance monitoring.

Statement by the European Parliament on the Common Agricultural Policy implementation and transparency

The new legal framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) comprises enhanced flexibility for Member States in the design and implementation of national strategic plans (NSPs). This allows for adaptation to local needs while continuing to ensure that general eligibility conditions are complied with by final beneficiaries. The new delivery model, introducing a performance-based approach, also includes a significant transfer of responsibility from the Union level to national administrations in the management and control of the Union’s agricultural funds.

The European Parliament considers the interinstitutional agreement reached between the co-legislators to contain the necessary safeguards preventing the risks identified for the correct implementation of Member States’ NSPs as approved by the Commission. The European Parliament will monitor closely the implementation of NSPs by Member States as approved by the Commission and will exercise fully its role of supervisor of the work of the Commission granted under the Treaties and as defined in the CAP Regulations.

The European Parliament considers the effective protection of the financial interests of the Union to be ensured by Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy, including the collection and publication of data on groups that ensure efficient checks on conflicts of interest, irregularities, issues of double funding, and criminal misuse of the funds. With a view to the use of a single data-mining tool in the Member States, the European Parliament welcomes the commitment to examine a proposal on its mandatory use in all Member States, following the Commission’s report, to be completed by 2025, assessing its use and its interoperability.

(1) OJ L 435, 6.12.2021, p. 187.