Debate: Common agricultural policy - support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States and financed by the EAGF and by the EAFRD - Common agricultural policy: financing, management and monitoring - Common agricultural policy – amendment of the CMO and other regulations
Date: TUESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2021
Speaker: Janusz Wojciechowski
Language: EN

It is a bit more than a year since I joined you for the debate on the Parliament’s negotiating mandate. As I did then, I would like to start by thanking the Chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Lins, and, for the three regulations, the rapporteurs, Mr Jahr, Ms Müller, and Mr Andrieu, for their hard work, sparing no effort in bringing about the political compromise at the end of June this year and the final legal text that you will be voting on today.  On behalf of the Commission, I fully support the political compromise reached. It is a good and balanced outcome that will allow the common agricultural policy to play its role in ensuring the transition towards more sustainable agriculture.  The new common agricultural policy is an important step forward. We have the opportunity to grant our citizens a strong common agricultural policy that will contribute to all three dimensions of sustainability – economic, social and environmental. It will foster a sustainable and competitive agricultural sector that can support the livelihoods of farmers and provide healthy and sustainable food for society, while delivering significantly more in terms of environment and climate, in line with the European Green Deal ambitions. I am very satisfied with the large support that the political compromise on the CAP reform had in your Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, and I would like to invite you to confirm such support today. It is time to harvest the result of so many months of negotiation and concentrate on the implementation of the new CAP, allowing us to address effectively the many challenges lying ahead for the European agricultural sector.  Let me now say a few words on each of the three strategic plan regulations. We can be satisfied with the so—called green architecture of the Strategic Plan Regulation, the pillar of environmental sustainability. Alignment with the Green Deal is shown in the ‘no backsliding’ principle, and the final compromise on conditionality and eco—schemes, including the ring—fencing of 25% of direct payments, national envelopes for eco—schemes, are strong outcomes. The final deal sends a clear political signal of the Union’s commitment to respond more decisively to the scale and urgency of the environmental and climate challenges the Union is facing. The recent COP confirmed the need for a change.  The basic act will provide the right tools, but turning the legal framework into concrete results on the ground will require Member States to rise up to the higher social expectations in this domain. They will have to show the right level of ambition when designing eco—schemes and in the overall set—up of environmental and climate interventions, addressing effectively the key challenges they will have identified in their strategic plans. I will come back to that. The new common agricultural policy improves the fairness, effectiveness and efficiency of the distribution of direct payments, ensuring that income support goes to those who need it most and who deliver more for CAP objectives. Nobody can be left behind. A lot remains to be done in practice, but the agreement reached provides useful tools to deliver on this priority. A key element is the requirement for Member States to describe, in their strategic plan intervention, how the need for redistribution will be addressed, depending on the Member States’ specific contexts. The complementary redistributive income support will be key, but so will other interventions or tools like, for example, the payment of small farmers, if duly justified.  With regard to the social dimension of the future common agricultural policy, I am happy that the final political compromise includes, for the first time, the concept of social conditionality in the CAP, linking the distribution of direct payments to the respect of certain labour laws. I would like to thank the European Parliament for having put forward this idea in its negotiating mandate, and all parties for their determination and flexibility in finding a workable formula to make sure that the future CAP ensures the respect of workers’ rights, without adding an unnecessary administrative burden, and safeguarding the integrity of the national social and labour system.  Finally, I am especially satisfied with the outcome achieved in the governance of the future CAP and the shift towards a more performance—oriented policy and strategic planning. The approval of the CAP strategic plans, with a common set of results, indicators and targets against which the policy can be monitored and evaluated, constitutes an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the demands of our citizens to see the results of our policy. With regard to the horizontal regulations, I am glad that, after intense discussion in the three institutions, the final political agreement strengthens the key elements of the original Commission proposal, notably with regard to the new delivery model. Building from the existing robust assurance model in the new common agricultural policy, Member States will deliver on performance and will have to ensure a strong governance system in place. They will be responsible for checking eligibility at final beneficiary level, while the Commission will focus on ensuring that the Member States’ systems work properly. I think we have managed to strike the right balance between flexibility for Member States and assurance on CAP expenditure. In terms of enhanced transparency in the CAP, I welcome the new element on a group of undertakings, which was introduced by the European Parliament. I very much welcome as well the compromise on the data mining tool, Arachne. Arachne is a very useful tool, which could supplement Member States’ checks. The Commission is therefore happy to accept the obligation to make the tool available to all Member States free of charge, and to make it 100% suitable for CAP expenditure. As to its voluntary or mandatory use, the Commission is ready to present a report by 2025 to the co—legislators, together with appropriate proposals if necessary. In addition, I would like to recall that the Commission has tabled a unilateral statement on Arachne to be added to the statements accompanying the horizontal regulation. A copy will be transmitted to your plenary services. I’m also very pleased with the agreement on the scope, financing and management of the new agricultural reserve. A flexible reserve of EUR 450 million per year was agreed and the Council and Parliament could decide during the annual EU budget procedure to set up a higher level, if needed, within the limits of European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) availabilities.  Last, but not least, I am satisfied with the general political agreement reached on the common market organisation amending regulation. With the new compromise, we will continue to have a policy that is market—oriented and well aligned with the Green Deal farm—to—fork objectives. EU farms will continue to operate according to the market signals and will be equipped to make the most of the opportunities offered by the EU and global markets.  There are a number of significant changes agreed in the process, also thanks to the amendments proposed by the European Parliament. Here I have in mind some of the very important provisions that strengthen even further the position of farmers in the food chain by encouraging producer cooperation and providing competition—related flexibilities. You will recall that this is one of the actions foreseen under the farm—to—fork strategy, and we are delivering on it.  The wine sector will also benefit from a substantial number of new elements that will ensure the long—term sustainable development of the sector. We all recall that we have also extensively discussed the issue of standards applying to imports. Eventually, a political compromise was reached that sets out our commonly—agreed level of ambition and objectives that we want to pursue further. Trade should not weaken the Green Deal ambitions. The Commission is pleased with the approach agreed on respect for this in our international commitments. We are now working on the report that we promised for the next year. Please allow me to finish my intervention with a few remarks on what lies ahead of us. As you know, the Commission is sparing no effort in its structured dialogue with Member States, supporting them in drawing up and finalising ambitious fit—for—purpose CAP strategy plans, based on their solid needs assessment and including the appropriate combination of interventions addressing the identified needs of farmers and social expectations.  The quality of Member States’ CAP strategic plans is a condition  I know the European Parliament’s interest in the process of assessing and approving the national strategy plans. The Commission will do its utmost to ensure a high level of transparency so that Parliament and the public in general stay well informed, throughout the process, about the overall level of ambition of the CAP plans. I have indicated the Commission’s intention to publish the observation letters addressed to the Member States on their CAP plans. Also, as agreed during the negotiation process, the Commission will report to the co—legislators, by the end of 2023, on the content of the Member State plans.  To conclude, let me mention that the CAP alone cannot address all the challenges we face in terms of economic, environmental and social sustainability. At all levels of governance – EU, national and regional – we need to do our best to create synergies between policies and finance if we want to succeed. I am confident that the legislative package on which you are being asked to vote today can significantly contribute to that goal.