Ireland risks losing CAP money over environmental ring-fencing

As CAP negotiations continue to trudge towards a conclusion, one of the major areas that remains unresolved is what portion of the budget will be dedicated to environmental and climate spending.

EU agricultural ministers met in Brussels on Monday for a European Council meeting chaired by German farm minister and agri-council president Julia Klockner to discuss outstanding issues.

Her ambition is for farm ministers to sign off on their proposals for the new CAP in October to coincide with the European Parliament’s targeted conclusion date.

This would allow ‘trilogue’ negotiations between the European Council, Commission and Parliament to begin.

Eco schemes

One area council has not been able to find agreement is the introduction of ‘eco schemes’ into CAP pillar one.

Pillar one has traditionally been used to fund direct payments and greening was introduced in the last reform to increase the environmental merit of these payments.

As with all new schemes, there will be uncertainty about the level of take-up by farmers

Greening requirements will be absorbed into cross compliance and eco schemes will take their place.

Member states will have to offer these schemes to farmers, but farmers may choose whether to opt in or out on an annual basis. Those who opt out will lose a portion of their direct payment.

What this portion is remains one of the main outstanding points. Originally, it was envisaged that member states would have the opportunity to decide this themselves.

Ring-fencing

However, the publication of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies earlier this year was accompanied by a proposal to ring-fence a common percentage of the CAP budget for eco schemes.

European Agricultural Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told the meeting that ring-fencing was a step in the right direction.

He stressed that the EU had committed to spending 30% of its overall budget on climate and environmental measures and this would help achieve that goal.

However, member states are concerned that setting a mandatory budget for such schemes could see funds unspent if farmers do not sign up in the required numbers.

Ireland

Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue was among those opposed to the idea.

Speaking at the meeting, he said: “Ireland has always supported mandatory eco schemes, with member states choosing their own appropriate percentage to apply.

"As with all new schemes, there will be uncertainty about the level of take-up by farmers.

“Our key concern here is … Ireland risks losing significant funds in the event of a low take-up. I have to be crystal clear on this point, we cannot accept anything that would expose Ireland in this way.”

To try to achieve a compromise on the issue, Germany’s Klockner proposed introducing a learning phase of one to two years.

This would allow member states to ring-fence funds and trial eco schemes. In the event of low take-up, the percentage could then be altered to match demand.

The proposal did not find favour with Commissioner Wojciechowski. He reiterated the need for a common percentage across the EU.

His alternative was to set a smaller percentage in the early years of CAP and a higher percentage later on to reach the required average.

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