The EP approved the review of the EU’s common agricultural policy

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The CAP revision, approved with 425 votes, 130 against and 33 abstentions, creates a balance between maintaining the environmental protection and climate policy aspirations of the current EU greyhound price policy and addressing the concerns of agricultural producers, they wrote. As regards good agricultural and environmental conditions, it allows Member States to grant temporary and targeted derogations from certain cross-compliance requirements in the event of unforeseen climatic conditions that prevent farmers from meeting them. EU farmers will not be obliged to leave a certain part of their arable land fallow. They can voluntarily decide to leave part of their arable land fallow or to plant new crops on it. At the same time, it encourages farmers to maintain non-productive areas that are beneficial for biodiversity. In addition to crop rotation, it also enables the diversification of crop production for farmers who own areas affected by regular drought or excessive rainfall, so that they can more easily meet the requirement, they wrote.

Member States may exempt certain crops, soil types or farming systems from compliance with tillage requirements

Their scope must be limited and they can only be created if they are necessary to solve specific problems. The review exempts farms operating on an area of less than 10 hectares from checks and sanctions related to compliance with conditionality requirements, which reduces the administrative burden for small producers, 65 percent of the beneficiaries of the CAP, they wrote. The revision ensures that EU countries can amend their CAP strategic plans twice a year, as opposed to the current once-only option. This – as written – provides more flexibility for member states to deal with changing conditions. The revision must still be officially accepted by the EU Council, which brings together the governments of the member states. In the event of its final adoption and after its announcement, the decree shall enter into force immediately.

MTI