Transitional measures to ensure CAP continuity are requested by the three institutions but…

Views might differ about the extension period

Last October, the European Commission published its proposal for a Regulation laying down the transitional provisions that will extend current CAP rules for a year. This proposal aims at providing certainty and continuity in the granting of support to European farmers and ensuring the continuity of CAP funds (direct payments and rural development) by extending the current legal framework until the new CAP becomes applicable.

The next programming period should run from 2021 – 2027. Due to policy and political events over 2019 the European Commission proposes an extension of the current rules up to one year so to implement the new CAP as of 2022.

But policy-makers from the three EU institutions do not share the same views. Elsi Katainen, Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur of this dossier, said during the last Agri Committee on 22 January “that with current calendar set by the Commission “farmers and the sector will only know the final contents of the Regulation and its implications for them and their businesses a few months before the legislation will be in force.” In this respect, many MEPs expressed their concerns about this timeline and asked to extend the transitional period from one to two years.

On its side, the Croatian Presidency of the Council is confident to reach a timely agreement on the post-2020 CAP as well as securing an agreement among Member States on Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)’s transitional regulations that will extend the current rules for at least a year.

In a public hearing organised by MEP Elsi Katainen early January, CEMA Secretary General Jerome Bandry expressed “the need to support transitional provisions that are as smooth and as little disruptive as possible for European Farmers of all sizes to retain their investment capability through continued legal certainty”.