Regulation 2024/1468 - Amendment of Regulations (EU) 2021/2115 and (EU) 2021/2116 as regards good agricultural and environmental condition standards, schemes for climate, environment and animal welfare, amendment of the CAP Strategic Plans, review of the CAP Strategic Plans and exemptions from controls and penalties - Main contents

Official Journal

of the European Union

EN

L series

2024/1468

24.5.2024

Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) establishes rules on support for strategic plans to be drawn up by Member States under the common agricultural policy (‘CAP Strategic Plans’) and financed by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) establishes rules on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

Despite the fact that Regulations (EU) 2021/2115 and (EU) 2021/2116 give substantial flexibility to Member States and have the potential to reduce farmers’ administrative burdens, the first year of concrete application of those Regulations, through CAP Strategic Plans, has made it clear that certain limited adjustments to the Union legal framework for the CAP are necessary to ensure an effective implementation of the CAP Strategic Plans and to reduce administrative burden linked to the implementation of the CAP Strategic Plans and to the control of certain requirements.

In addition, farmers are facing an exceptional range of difficulties and uncertainties. In particular, recent years have been characterised by a substantial number of extreme meteorological events, including droughts and flooding in various parts of the Union. Those events affect output and revenue, and also have a significant impact on the execution and calendar of normal agronomic practices. The high energy and input prices and uncertainties resulting from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the cost of living, inflation, the 2023 drop in cereal production value and the change in international trade flows have led to further uncertainties and pressures on farmers. The concurrence of those events exerts a heavy pressure on farmers to adapt the management of their holdings and the execution of agronomic practices, as managers of natural resources and as economic actors.

As a consequence, there is a need to review and simplify certain provisions of Regulations (EU) 2021/2115 and (EU) 2021/2116 to ensure that Member States can better adapt their CAP Strategic Plans to farmers’ needs and provide farmers with more flexibility to carry out their agricultural activities taking into account the increasing challenges, the unpredictability of the weather and economic uncertainties.

Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 requires Member States to ensure that all agricultural areas, including land which is no longer used for production purposes, are maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition. Member States are to set, at national or regional level, minimum standards for farmers and other beneficiaries for each good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC) standard listed in Annex III to that Regulation, in line with...