Commissioner Hansen presents plan to cut farming bureaucracy in EU

European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen presented his simplification scheme for nan cultivation assemblage during a gathering organised by Euronews.

The European Commission unveiled nan plan, which intends to simplify nan European Union's cultivation rulebook, connected Wednesday successful Brussels.

The measures are designed to trim what nan Commission sees arsenic unnecessary administrative burdens successful implementing nan Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), nan EU’s farming subsidy framework.

Hansen believes nan projected strategy should service each stakeholders. The plan, therefore, intends to trim nan administrative load for farmers and personnel states.

"What is felt to beryllium an administrative load connected nan workplace is not only nan CAP (Common Agricultural Policy), but besides biology legislation, wellness legislation, and often nationalist aliases location legislation, truthful I deliberation that everyone must lend to reducing this bureaucracy," Hansen explained.

This simplification scheme could perchance prevention farmers up to €1.58 cardinal a twelvemonth and nan nationalist authorities €210 million. The package of measures is aimed successful peculiar astatine integrated farming and mini farms, which play an basal domiciled successful agrarian areas' economical activity.

The scheme proposes exemptions from biology rules, besides known arsenic conditionalities. Hansen points retired that this package intends not to betterment nan sector, but to set definite rules.

For example, Hansen said, "If grassland remains successful spot for much than 5 years, it becomes imperishable grassland. This is simply a devaluation of this farmland because it tin nary longer beryllium utilized arsenic arable land. After 4 years aliases so, farmers plough to sphere this status."

"For me, it's much valuable if nan writer stays for 7 years alternatively than five. So this is biology progress. It's nan applicability (of nan rules) that changes," he added.

Flexibility and financial support

The European Commission besides wants to thief mini farmers get financial assistance and make their farms much competitive. The institution is considering an connection of up to €50,000.

Hansensuggested digitalising nan sector, mentioning, for example, a integer portfolio to facilitate checks.

"I, arsenic a farm, person my integer wallet and if nan h2o authority needs to cognize thing astir my land, they tin move to that wallet," Hansen explained.

Hansen further reiterated his desire to make nan occupation charismatic again and to thief professionals.

"It's very important that we trim nan accent connected our farmers, because astatine nan infinitesimal it each depends connected nan Member State. They person to woody pinch five, six, 7 controls a year, which causes tremendous accent for our farmers," Hansen insisted.

"That's why we besides want to trim these controls, and nan personnel states are besides obliged to act. We want to trim nan number of checks to conscionable 1 a year," he added.

Environmental NGOs judge that nan scheme threatens nan cultivation sector's greenish objectives. Hansen, however, rejects this disapproval and emphasises that he is responding to nan concerns of farmers, who person many times protested against overly restrictive European regulations.

Yet, this simplification scheme is only nan first step. The European Commission intends to coming caller measures later this year.