Since the beginning of 2015 this issue has been one of the priorities for the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission, and in recent months the Presidency has consulted ministers and summarised their views on priority areas for simplification, based on the national experiences of implementation of the recently reformed CAP.

The Member States’ representatives present at Monday’s meeting, chaired by the President of the Council, Latvian Minister Janis Duklavs, welcomed the priority the European Commission is giving to a thorough CAP simplification exercise, and adopted a number of proposals to simplify CAP for all those who have an investment in it.

The Council stressed there were certain areas with high simplification potential such as the guidance and help issued by the European Union to those attempting to implement CAP. It stated that such guidance should genuinely help with the implementation of CAP legislation, adding that there should also be greater transparency as regards further interpretation of legal provisions provided by the Commission to Member States.

Member States agreed a 12-point set of Council conclusions on how to simplify new CAP rules, approving a text prepared among experts at the Special Committee on Agriculture on May 4 without changes.

CAP simplification proposals contained within the text include the possibility of granting Member States greater flexibility on implementing new ecological rules, including requirements for ecological focus areas, crop diversification, and the definition of permanent grassland.

It also proposes that environmental controls should be as simple as possible, with proportionate penalties for minor infringements. Other possible modifications include more targeted farm checks, tweaking the eligibility for young farmer aid and an option to make the "active farmer" definition voluntary.

It also says that a margin of tolerance should apply for 2015 errors as the first year of implementing the new CAP.

Priority areas for simplification

The Council highlighted a number of priority areas for simplification, one of which was greening measures in the Direct Payment Scheme. It stated there was scope for simplification in this area by giving Member States more flexibility regarding the measures’ implementation. The Council said this could be achieved by taking better into account the natural conditions and allowing more targeted controls.

Another priority area mentioned was the Common Market Organisation (CMO). On this issue the Council stated the CMO task work force should avoid unnecessary reporting requirements, streamline market standards in order to eliminate unnecessary burdens, streamline the requirements for operational programmes and producer organisations in the fruit and vegetable sector to avoid undue burdens, and remove unnecessary rules surrounding safety net measures such as private storage and public intervention.

As regards Rural Development, the Council agreed that the programming and approval of rural development programmes should be simplified and their monitoring and evaluation made less burdensome.

Finally the Council referred to Horizontal Provisions, stating that a more proportional and risk-based approach should apply to controls, with the intensity of control taking account of the risk and amounts involved, cost-effectiveness, and the different objectives and outcomes being sought.

The Council acknowledged that the need to achieve simplification as rapidly as possible required that the short-term focus be on steps that demand the most urgent attention, such as revising delegated and implementing acts (and Commission acts adopted before the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty), improving guidance notes, provision of technical assistance and facilitating cooperation and exchange of good practices between administrations.

It said in the longer-term, based on the experience gained during the first years of full CAP implementation, simplification efforts should also be made as regards basic acts.

Referring to the decision to adopt the conclusions, the President of the Council, Minister Janis Duklavs said that, "With these conclusions the Council reaffirms its strong commitment to make the new CAP easier to implement for all actors involved ".

The Council concluded by saying it would carry out regular monitoring to ensure proper follow-up to the simplification process.

On this note it invited the Commission to present simplification initiatives in the autumn of 2015, taking into account the present Council conclusions and to consider further simplification initiatives in due course. It also committed itself to assessing in 2016, on the basis of Commission input, the progress made regarding CAP simplification.