Tag: DABIS

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The Commission’s proposal to replace the ‘active farmer’ definition appears more bureaucratic

There are two parallel debates taking place in this CAP reform round under the general rubric of targeting, or who deserves support. One issue is around the definition of an active farmer. The other is that support should be targeted on farmers in need. In this post, I want to focus on the changes proposed by the Commission in the way active farmers are defined.

Active farmers in the current Regulation are a sub-set of all farmers. Only active farmers are eligible to receive direct payments (decoupled and coupled payments). While we can use the concept ‘active farmer’ which was introduced in the current CAP Strategic Plans Regulation as a shorthand, its specific implementation has changed in the proposal for the post-2027 CAP.

Active farmers in the CAP Strategic Plan Regulation

Under the current CAP Strategic Plans Regulation, the distinction is made between a farmer and a beneficiary of direct payments.… Read the rest

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An uncommon CAP?

The European Court of Auditors has released an Opinion on the draft CAP and CMO Regulations proposed by the Commission. It is a welcome analysis as it moves the discussion on the CAP in the next programming period 2028-2034 beyond the budget and governance issues that have dominated the debate to date, and provides an analytical examination of the changes proposed by the Commission for the CAP interventions themselves. There are many useful insights in the Opinion.

The one interpretation that I found puzzling was the ECA’s discussion of crisis payments for farmers (Article 38 of the Fund proposal). Box 5 in the Opinion appears to suggest that, in the event of natural disasters, access to exceptional measures funded by the EU Facility would only take effect after crisis payments to farmers had been established. My reading of Article 34(9) suggests that it excludes financing crisis payments to farmers in the event of natural disasters by the EU Facility, although why that should be the case is not explained or justified, but it does not require such payments before Member States can seek additional aid from this Facility.… Read the rest