Redistributive payments in 2014 a possibility

Political agreements in the EU, on transition measures for agriculture in 2014, have opened the possibility of member states making redistributive single payments to small farmers, and transferring funds between CAP pillars, as early as January.

While most of the new CAP rules will come into force in January 2015, national governments can apply the voluntary re-distributive payments in 2014 — as requested by the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee.

A member state can decide, each year, if it wishes to use this option in the following year.

“However, if a member state wants to use some options in later years (such as flexibility to transfer funds between pillars), it must already decide to use this flexibility in 2014,” said CAP expert, Alan Matthews.

Rural-development programmes that are running under the ‘old’ system can continue uninterrupted next year.

Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney has given few indications of his preferences for CAP-reform implementation in Ireland, but is expected to make final decisions before the end of this year, to allow preparation for full implementation in January, 2015.

Existing rules of the Single Payment Scheme will continue in the 2014 claim year.