The French declination of the new European agricultural project has just been approved by the Commission. But Paris had to enhance its environmental requirements to obtain the 45 billion euros devoted to France
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The contours of the next joint agricultural policy (CAP), which will apply from 2023 to 2027, are now set for seven countries of the European Union, including France. The European Commission validated, Wednesday, August 31, a first pack of “strategic plans” on Wednesday, August 31, national declination of this European subsidy program – in addition to that of France, the plans of Denmark, Finland, Ireland, of the Poland, Portugal and Spain are approved. The challenge is of importance, since these countries represent 120 billion euros in aid over this period, including 45.2 billion for French agriculture.
In a letter of observations addressed at the end of March to France, the Commission had criticized the lack of environmental measures in the initial version of the French plan, transmitted in December 2021. This one “only partially supports the Ecological transition from agricultural and forestry sectors, “wrote the commission. The 1884 pages plan sent on August 4 by the new Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, and published in extenso by the site context on August 29 , includes several adjustments.
The remuneration of organic farming has notably been revised upwards to be differentiated from that of high environmental value certification (HVE), a much less restrictive label. In its first version, the French strategic plan placed this certification at the same level of remuneration as organic, which had been strongly criticized. From now on, “ecoregime”, the new tool that will compensate for climate and biodiversity practices, will be higher by 30 euros per hectare for operators in organic farming, compared to those who are in the HVE approach.
The obligation to rotate crops
“We are going to touch 110 euros per hectare. We were waiting for a minimum of 120 euros, but it is an acceptable level,” said Loïc Madeline, of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture (FNAB) which has congratulation of this arbitration. For the European deputy Eric Andrieu (socio -democrats), rapporteur in Parliament on the reform of the CAP, it will not be sufficient, however, to reach the objective of doubling the share of organic to reach 18 % of agricultural area by 2027. ” As France has also eliminated the help of maintaining organic farming, the account is not there, “he lambasted.
Another point which aroused an showdown with the European Commission: the obligation to rotate cultures, to which France initially wanted to derogate. “There was a real balance of power: France pleaded diversification but no obligation of rotation, but the commission did not give in,” observes Mathieu Courgeau, president of the associative platform for another CAP. “For 2023 and 2024, the rotation of crops will be on 35 % of the total surface. That is to say that 65 % of the surface can remain in monoculture for two years, explains Laurence Marandola, of the Confédération Paysanne. From 2025, there will take two different cultures over four years on all plots or a secondary culture each year. And there is a derogation from the rules for seeds seed. “
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