WRITTEN QUESTION E-1994/02

by Samuli Pohjamo (ELDR) and Mikko Pesälä (ELDR) to the Commission

(8 July 2002)

Subject: Guaranteeing legal security for farmers in the light of ever-changing agricultural legislation

EU legislation in the agricultural sector by nature changes all the time. The amendments and adjustments make the acts more difficult to enforce. Given the continual changes, local authorities

do not dare to take responsibility for farmers' aid applications, and the implementation guidelines are confusing. In the end it is farmers who suffer because of this administrative practice and they are unduly penalised as a result of the errors that can occur.

The Commission's administrative simplification proposals do not mention agriculture.

How will the Commission reform agricultural administration and the related decision-making to enable farmers to enjoy legal security and administrative procedures to be conducted properly in the constantly changing circumstances?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(19 August 2002)

The Commission is of the view that simple, clear legislation is vital for sound and efficient management of limited resources, both human and financial, in all policy sectors. The more ambiguous and complex the rules, the more difficult and costly they are to implement, manage and control in terms of administrative and human resources, and the more scope will there be for fraud. Simplification is important both to increase the cost effectiveness of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and to reduce the risk of errors and fraud.

The Directorate General for Agriculture has made simplification one of its priorities for a number of years, and work in this area considerably pre-dates the current Commission proposals for administrative simplification. A service with specific responsibility for simplification was created in 1995, and internal simplification guidelines have been in place since 1999. Both the Parliament and the Council have expressed their support for the Commission's efforts over the last few years to minimise the administrative burdens imposed by the Common Agricultural Policy on both farmers and national administrations.

In its work to simplify the CAP the Commission has until now chosen to focus on making agricultural legislation as clear, transparent and easily accessible as possible and on reducing the administrative workload that the CAP imposes on farmers and on others concerned, as well as on national and Community authorities, to only what is strictly necessary.

A number of specific initiatives have also been undertaken, notably the Small Farmers' Scheme, which is intended to replace annual applications for the different aid schemes with one single aid application valid for a trial period of four years, thus reducing the administrative burdens on both farmers and administrations.

Simplification is one of the main orientations of the current Mid-Term Review of the CAP(1), in which it is proposed to simplify the aid regimes, and in which this concept of a single global aid payment is further developed.

As far as the correct application of aid schemes and the related administrative procedures is concerned, this falls under the responsibility of Member States; implementation guidelines issued by national authorities are the responsibility of those authorities.

(1) COM(2002) 394 final.