Commission moves ahead with simplification measures for farmers

On Thursday (30 May), the EU executive made it easier to exempt farmers from the requirements to receive subsidies in case of exceptional weather events, and will next week propose relaxing the obligation to use geo-tagged photos for control purposes.

The European Commission published a communication clarifying the exceptional circumstances (“force majeure”) in which farmers should not be penalised for failing to meet the requirements of the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), on which payments depend. 

The move is one of the pledges made by the Commission in February to reduce the administrative burden of EU policies on farmers after a wave of protests rocked the bloc. 

Cases for force majeure are natural disasters, but also outbreaks of plant and animal diseases.

While this concept is usually applied on a case-by-case basis and at the request of the affected farmer, Thursday’s communication opens the door for EU countries to designate areas “gravely affected” by exceptional circumstances, such as an extreme weather event, and presume that all the farms in that area are covered by it. 

Farmers will no longer need to present individual requests or verification “that the conditions for force majeure are individually fulfilled,” the document said. 

To delimit such geographical area, national administrations can use satellite data – or an equivalent – which does not necessarily have to cover individual holdings. 

The communication comes only days after the Commission’s “simplification package” – relaxing some of the CAP environmental requirements – came into force on 25 May. 

Geotagged photos 

In another move to ease discontent with the CAP’s administrative burden, the EU executive will propose changes to the obligation to use geo-tagged photos to check some of the conditions for farms to receive subsidies at a CAP meeting on 5 June.

Speaking to journalists ahead of Monday’s (27 May) Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRIFISH), Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas said that on 24 May the Commission sent to member states a proposal to modify a CAP implementing regulation on control systems.

According to the implementing regulation, by 2027, EU countries will have to carry out a certain percentage of monitoring using only geo-tagged photos as part of the bloc’s aim to expand the use of modern technology to check eligibility criteria for payments.

The text requires member states to make progress “in a gradual manner” during the current programming period (2023-2027), recognising “the effort and investments” needed. 

It also allows national adminstrations to decide which conditions to monitor using only geotagged photos.  

However, according to Planas, the Commission will propose giving member states more flexibility by making the system voluntary.

Asked about farmers’ concerns, Planas praised the latest changes to the CAP, describing the speed of their approval adoption as “spectacular”. But he added that more needed to be done to simplify the EU’s agricultural policy. 

“Does [the simplification package] mean everything is solved? No,” he said, calling for other measures, such as facilitating wine promotion in third countries.  

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro/ Zoran Radosavljevic]

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