Slovenia Welcomes Proposed CAP Amendments in Principle

Ljubljana, 17 July

Slovenia welcomes in principle the changes to the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) proposed by the European Commission, Agriculture Ministry State Secretary Branka Tome told the press on Thursday. The Commission suggested changes to direct farm payments, common market organisation and rural development aid.

As part of the CAP review, the "Health Check", the EU is focusing on the further uncoupling of direct payments from production, said Tome, adding that this would enable farmers to produce what the market demands.
She added that Slovenia would like to preserve the current model of regional payments, which was introduced in 2007, to guarantee farmers' stability until 2013.
If a part of the payments remain crop-specific, Slovenia will be able to earmark 10% of its national funds for specific measures, Tome said, adding that Slovenia's funds amount to some EUR 14m.
Slovenia opposes an increase in modulation (transfer of funds from the first pillar to rural development) for new EU members before 2013.
Slovenia has been phasing in modulation and the share will increase from the present 5% to 13% in 2012.
This means that farmers who receive over EUR 5,000 of direct payments would have to invest 13% of this sum into rural development; those who receive between EUR 100,000 and 300,000 would have to invest between 3% and 9% into rural development.
Some 5,300 Slovenian farms received over EUR 5,000 in direct payments in 2007, while there were only 19 which got more than EUR 100,000, Tome said.
The biggest change in common market organisation regards milk quotas, which are to be abolished in 2015.
The Commission proposed the introduction of two parallel measures to enable a soft landing: gradual increase in milk quotas (1% in five years) and measures which would aid milk production in the less competitive areas.
The rural development policy focuses on topical issues including climate change, renewables, water management and the preservation of biodiversity, said Tome.
"Slovenia definitely supports proposals that more needs to be done in these fields and that these challenges need to be tackled," Tome said.
With regard to the fact that Slovenia would like to stick to keep the same amount of direct payments until 2013, Tome said Slovenia should consider alternative sources to fund new challenges.

Slovenia Welcomes Proposed CAP Amendments in Principle

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