Latvia's proposal to simplify Common Agricultural Policy supported by 21 EU member countries

RIGA - Latvia's proposal to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has been supported by 21 European Union member countries at a meeting of the EU agriculture and fisheries ministers in Brussels, which confirms the importance and urgency of the matter, representatives of the Agriculture Ministry informed LETA.

During the meeting, Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze (Greens/Farmers) called on the European Commission and EU member countries to further simplify Strategic Plan of the CAP, adding that implementation of the agricultural policy should become more comprehensible to farmers and society as a whole.

As the first years of implementation of the CAP Strategic Plan shows, management of the agricultural policy system is complex for both farmers and administrations. Instead of the simplification sought, the new implementation model of the CAP Strategic Plan has created an additional administrative burden, focusing on technical conditions and requirements rather than the results achieved.

Latvia has therefore prepared a proposal to simplify the planning and reporting of CAP Strategic Plan. Krauze also drew attention to the fact that, with each subsequent year of implementation of the CAP Strategic Plan, member countries will introduce more and more measures, which will also increase the administrative burden of reporting on farmers and the authorities responsible.

The Agriculture Ministry's representatives point out that the complex and fragmented system of planning and reporting of CAP Strategic Plan can also have financial consequences for member countries. Unable to adequately justify deviations from the planned indicator values, countries may be subjected to reductions in aid or even suspensions. But one of the main problems is the European Commission's requirement to provide an exhaustive justification for any, even the smallest, deviation, despite the fact that EU law does not.

Krauze also discussed the complexity of the CAP Strategic Plan system and the justification for excessively time-consuming deviations in bilateral negotiations with EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Janusz Wojciechowski.

In a conversation with the commissioner, Krauze urged the Commission to grant EU emergency support to Latvian agriculture. This year, too, a number of adverse conditions have been experienced - in May, a devastating frost, a severe storm in July, as well as winter has caused great damage to winter crops. Grain quality has suffered and the expected yield of cereals, potatoes, fruit, berries and vegetables has decreased. Moreover, the sector has yet to recover from the natural cataclysms experienced in 2023.

Discussing the situation on the agricultural market, Krauze also informed that imports of agricultural products and goods from Russia and Belarus have dropped sharply in July this year compared to June. This has been achieved through the introduction by the EU of increased customs tariffs on imports from these countries.

The minister called on the Commission to develop and publish as soon as possible the next proposal to impose higher customs tariffs on Russian and Belarusian agricultural products and goods.