The EU Parliament’s Agriculture Committee voted to reject the Commission's simplification proposals on greening in Brussels this week.
The simplification proposals consisted of 14 measures intended to make greening more farmer-friendly. One of these required farmers not to use plant protection products (PPPs) on crops in Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs).
Farm organisations oppose this proposal. IFA grain chair Liam Dunne was of the view that it is impossible to grow protein crops without PPPs. NFU Scotland’s combinable crops chair Ian Sands welcomed the decision of the parliament’s Agriculture Committee. “It is an indication of how damaging the proposals on PPPs would have been that we had to call for the rejection of the whole proposal as it stands,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Commission's view
Unsurprisingly, the Commission took a different view. Its position is that 13 of the 14 proposals are widely accepted and the issue with PPPs applies to eight weeks when crops are flowering. It was an achievement to have protein crops accepted in the EFAs at the outset and this concession is necessary to keep environmental NGOs and The Commission's DG Environment on board for the wider greening picture, which accounts for 30% of the CAP budget.
There are concerns in the Commission that failure to deliver greening to satisfy lobbies outside farming will have DG Environment and DG Budget chasing this slice of the CAP budget. Their view is that it may be less than what farm organisations would want, but it is the best that can be done in the overall 14-point simplification plan.
The vote now goes before the full plenary of the Parliament for a vote next month in Strasbourg.
The proposals were put forward by the Commission, but under co-decision making require the ratification of the EU Parliament. If the Parliament follows the decision taken by the Agriculture Committee, then it is back to the drawing board.
Organics
The discussion on reform of organic rules failed again to reach agreement at this week’s Special Agriculture Committee. This has been a long-running debate, carried into the Maltese presidency in January with its predecessor, Slovakia, equally failing to achieve consensus.
The presidency will provide an update to the Farm Council in Luxembourg, which will be quite similar to the one in December. The incoming Estonian presidency may be less enthusiastic to take the project forward with an Irish official in Brussels this week overheard saying that if it was an animal we would call in a vet to humanely put it down.
Budget
The draft budget was also published this week and reflects improving markets. It is planned that expenditure will be €882m less, with €500m of this accounted for by the support provided for dairy and livestock in late 2017 which impacted on the 2017 budget.
Read more
London is pushing a hard border, not Brussels – Hogan
The EU Parliament’s Agriculture Committee voted to reject the Commission's simplification proposals on greening in Brussels this week.
The simplification proposals consisted of 14 measures intended to make greening more farmer-friendly. One of these required farmers not to use plant protection products (PPPs) on crops in Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs).
Farm organisations oppose this proposal. IFA grain chair Liam Dunne was of the view that it is impossible to grow protein crops without PPPs. NFU Scotland’s combinable crops chair Ian Sands welcomed the decision of the parliament’s Agriculture Committee. “It is an indication of how damaging the proposals on PPPs would have been that we had to call for the rejection of the whole proposal as it stands,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Commission's view
Unsurprisingly, the Commission took a different view. Its position is that 13 of the 14 proposals are widely accepted and the issue with PPPs applies to eight weeks when crops are flowering. It was an achievement to have protein crops accepted in the EFAs at the outset and this concession is necessary to keep environmental NGOs and The Commission's DG Environment on board for the wider greening picture, which accounts for 30% of the CAP budget.
There are concerns in the Commission that failure to deliver greening to satisfy lobbies outside farming will have DG Environment and DG Budget chasing this slice of the CAP budget. Their view is that it may be less than what farm organisations would want, but it is the best that can be done in the overall 14-point simplification plan.
The vote now goes before the full plenary of the Parliament for a vote next month in Strasbourg.
The proposals were put forward by the Commission, but under co-decision making require the ratification of the EU Parliament. If the Parliament follows the decision taken by the Agriculture Committee, then it is back to the drawing board.
Organics
The discussion on reform of organic rules failed again to reach agreement at this week’s Special Agriculture Committee. This has been a long-running debate, carried into the Maltese presidency in January with its predecessor, Slovakia, equally failing to achieve consensus.
The presidency will provide an update to the Farm Council in Luxembourg, which will be quite similar to the one in December. The incoming Estonian presidency may be less enthusiastic to take the project forward with an Irish official in Brussels this week overheard saying that if it was an animal we would call in a vet to humanely put it down.
Budget
The draft budget was also published this week and reflects improving markets. It is planned that expenditure will be €882m less, with €500m of this accounted for by the support provided for dairy and livestock in late 2017 which impacted on the 2017 budget.
Read more
London is pushing a hard border, not Brussels – Hogan
SHARING OPTIONS