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Call for EU CAP simplification

Rural Affairs Secretary also pushes EU Commission to speed up approval of new rural development programmes.

The EU must deliver on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) simplification agenda being pursued by new Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan.

That was the message from Scotland’s Farming Minister as December Agrifish Council got underway.

Mr Lochhead asked that the UK supports the Commissioner in his efforts to deliver a simplified CAP, in particular a review of direct payments and Greening. This would be in line with the Brian Pack report to reduce red tape.

The Minister also pushed for the Commission to accelerate its approval of the new Rural Development Programme schemes.

Speaking from Brussels he said yesterday:

“I strongly support Commissioner Hogan’s simplification agenda - reducing red tape and the administrative burden on countries is something we all strive for.

“I had previously commissioned Brian Pack to carry out a ‘red tape’ review and he made some excellent big picture recommendations which talk about, among other things, the need for EU institutions to be more transparent and pragmatic. I therefore asked the UK Government to feed in some of Brian’s recommendations to the EU discussions. And I can also confirm today that I will be making an announcement on how we plan to take forward the wider review recommendations early in the new year.

“Given the complexities of the new CAP, and the potential for unintended consequences to arise, a review of direct payments and Greening is essential and I support any moves to make this process more simple. Greening rules are complex both for farmers and administrations and although guidance was issued by the Commission late in the day farmers still face penalties for minor breaches of Greening rules and administrations face disallowance for implementation breaches.

“I also stressed to the UK Government the importance of the Commission accelerating approval of the new Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), following mention of a likely delay in their formal approval of their new RDPs until summer 2015. This is due to internal Commission processes relating to the EU budget.

“Our transition arrangements mean that whilst the delay is highly inconvenient, the practical impact in Scotland will be small, but it still would be preferable to have the Commission’s formal approval as early as possible.”

 

Channel website: http://www.gov.scot/

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