The European Commission announced on Friday legislative revisions to the environmental rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
As a result, the application of certain environmental measures now genuinely reflects the reality on the ground and the implementation difficulties that farmers have been highlighting in recent weeks.
The proposed flexibilities for good agricultural and environmental conditions (GAEC) and the shift of some of them to eco-schemes respond to the demand of nearly all Member States and will genuinely allow for subsidiarity-based implementation without undermining environmental relevance.
For the Walloon Minister for Agriculture, responsible for implementing the CAP at Walloon level, “this is good news for the farming sector. I welcome the fact that the Commission has moved from words to action and has heard the message carried by almost all European agriculture ministers. While this is certainly a good start, we must not lose sight of the fact that there are still major points on which Europe needs to make progress.
As such:
- Crisis budget: it also seems essential to us that a significant budget be released to respond to the current crisis as quickly as possible.
- Border controls: the EU must do everything possible to significantly intensify and improve border checks on the nature and quality of imported goods.
- A solution for wheat: the EU must quickly provide a solution to the currently catastrophic price of wheat. To do so, it is essential that the possibilities for transporting Ukrainian wheat to its traditional markets be restored very quickly.
- Relaxation: in order to better cushion the effects of the crisis and take into account the changes the Commission is now proposing, it is essential to relax controls and avoid any resulting penalties (since a series of provisions will be amended).
- Act fast: finally, there must be very swift progress in implementing the announced measures.