Simplified legislation should make the Common Agricultural Policy cheaper and more competitive

Tisková zpráva Press Release Communiqué de presse

Prague, 26 May 2009

Simplified legislation should make the Common Agricultural Policy cheaper and more competitive

The Czech Presidency has successfully rounded off its efforts to simplify EU legislation. At the May meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, the competent Ministers unanimously adopted the Conclusions on this key priority of the Czech Presidency. The Commission believes that the simplification will bring about financial savings – the Community is expected to save about 1.4 billion euros by 2012.

“Simplification must be understood in a comprehensive way – the legal environment in which today’s farmers work involves a number of legislative requirements concerning plant production, breeding, environmental and sanitary rules and others”, explained Czech Agriculture Minister Jakub Šebesta. “This is why the Conclusions adopted cover the entire complex of the EU legal environment and propose specific steps for the period to come, e.g. in the field of direct payments, and also rural development and Cross-Compliance.”Room for further simplification can certainly be found in the introduction of electronic administration systems. Furthermore, there is no doubt of the necessity to abolish obsolete legislation and consolidate the rules – texts that have been amended a number of times must be “pruned out” and unified. 
“The ambitious Conclusions are the result of good cooperation between the Member States themselves and also with the Commission. The Czech Presidency has scored a major success by leading the Member States through complex negotiations to unanimity”, said First Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ivo Hlaváč. “The Conclusions represent a significant step forward in the process of simplifying Community legislation and enrich the Common Agricultural Policy by creating new dimensions. At the same time, the Council Conclusions clearly show that the direction taken by the Czech Republic is the right one and that giving priority to the simplification of legislation is a highly topical issue”.
The Conclusions highlight:

• the need for Member States to simplify national legalisation,
• the exchange of experiences with the process of simplification between Member States,
• the need for increased involvement of Paying Agencies, and their experiences as immediate payment administrators, in the process of simplification,
• the need for raising awareness of Brussels officials of the conditions in which farmers in the different locations live and work.

“Modern agriculture emphasises flexibility, competitiveness and the possibility to respond to market signals, and this is why it requires flexible legislation which will not be a hindrance to farmers but rather make their work easier”, stressed Minister Šebesta. “The complex legal environment is the result of many years of development of the Common Agricultural Policy and often also the result of real political compromises between the EU Member States”, added the Minister. However, simplification, says Šebesta, is highly relevant today – “For example, the current economic crisis clearly shows that we must truly simplify and streamline the legal environment”, said the Minister. This simplification should be beneficial above all to farmers who are not only the focal point of all legislation but also have to apply it in their everyday work. A legal environment that is flexible and as simple as possible and conditions leading to better competitiveness and quality of European production will also benefit the Commission and the EU as such. Simple and transparent legislation, which at the same time will constitute the most efficient solution in terms of budgets, will certainly be very well received by Member State authorities.

The European Commission wants to cut the administrative burden imposed on farmers by 25 % by 2012. The Czech Presidency, which has chosen simplification and better regulation of EU legislation as one of its principal priorities, has made a significant contribution towards achieving this end. Led by the Presidency, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council identified policy areas where farmers felt most constrained and burdened with rules many of which, moreover, have become outdated. “I completely agree with Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel that the main outcome of the simplification of the Common Agricultural Policy will be the fact that the farmers will have more time to do their work and they will spend less time filling out forms”, concluded Minister Šebesta. The Commission also believes that simplification will help cut costs – by 2012, the EU is expected to have saved some 1.4 billion euros.

Tereza Dvorácková
Spokeswoman of the Ministry of Agriculture