French CAP delay due to greening criteria cloud
The French agriculture ministry has extended the 2015 applications deadline until June 15, but many commentators are predicting that France’s 360,000 farmers will not be able to complete forms on time.
Their confusion relates to defining land plots which qualify for subsidies. Under the new rules for example undergrowth is no longer eligible. French farmers and government authorities have pointed out that this measure will lead to the destruction of hedgerows, which they claim runs against the EU’s greening goals.
“This is absurd, because on the one hand they ask us to conserve hedgerows for biodiversity, and on the other they cut workable land subsidies if hedgerows are too wide, which will encourage farmers to get rid of them,” Guy Vasseur, president of the French Assembly of the Chambers of Agriculture, told the Euractiv.com news service.
The French Chambers of Agriculture have sent a letter to Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan, asking that all farmers be granted the green subsidy for 2015. A Commission source has said it is unlikely that this request will be approved.
France, the largest CAP funding recipient, was hit with a €1.1bn fine last year for farm aid over-claims — around 2% of the farm aid received by France. Ireland was hit with €181m in fines in the same period.
To reduce future over-claims, the French department of agriculture has recruited the National Geographic Office, and is using satellite imaging to reassess plots of land under the revised CAP eligibility guidelines.
