The Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, is making moves in the European Union to try to calm the rural protests. Just a few hours after meeting with the organizations Asaja, COAG and UPA and advancing changes in Spanish regulations to increase inspections or eliminate the mandatory digital notebook, the minister has sent two letters to the Commissioner for Agriculture and the Presidency of the Council of the EU to convey to them that Spain, in light of the regulations it is generating for professionals in the field, is committed to modifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to simplify it.
In the letter addressed to Commissioner Wojciechowsku, Planas expresses his “great concern about the current situation of farmers’ protests in Spain.” One of the reasons for this discontent is, according to the minister, “the application of the new CAP since 1 January 2023.” This has meant “a significant additional complexity” and the “establishment of certain strategies that hinder the proper exercise of agricultural activity.” Measures, says Planas, that “are not being understood” by the Spanish countryside.
Planas proposes a package of measures to simplify the CAP. Firstly, he proposes that the responses of the 27 should “emphasize small farmers, who should be exempt from conditionality controls.” This approach was defended yesterday by the minister before professional organizations.
In addition, Planas proposes to “remove any new requirements for producers and administrations related to geotagged photos,” which would be mandatory from 2025. Spanish farmers report that on many of their farms there is no coverage to comply with this regulation.
In the letter sent to the Presidency of the Council, which corresponds to Belgium, Planas proposes the repeal of crop rotation on irrigated areas or the exemption of ecological areas in community regulations. He considers that this is an “indirect way of legislating by the European Commission”, in which countries find themselves in a “defenceless situation”. The minister also proposes modifying the eco-regime regime in the most arid areas, a type of crop that especially affects Spain, or raising the limit to be considered a small farmer and, therefore, be able to benefit from a simplified regime.
If reasonable and coherent measures are not adopted, Planas points out in this second letter, the new CAP model “will be a failure and it will be necessary to return to the previous one, that is, to a policy based on compliance with requirements.” “The elimination of community regulations is not implying the simplification” of the CAP, he adds. Regarding the obligation to have geotagged photos of farms, in this letter Planas assures that it is “an unaffordable requirement for both farmers and States.”
“They have Spain’s commitment to contribute actively and constructively to this debate on simplification, which we consider essential to guarantee the good development of agricultural activity in the EU,” concludes Planas.
The letter from the Minister of Agriculture is accompanied by a list of 22 CAP simplification proposals “on which we believe progress should be made.”
The Spanish Government considers that the meeting of the Council of Ministers on the 26th “is the appropriate forum” to address all these changes.
