A deal has been reached on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, which will allow greater flexibility forUK farmers, in Brussels following three days of discussions between European ministers.

Revisions to CAP will be fully implemented from 2015 and key additions include clarity on whatfarmers will have to do to qualify for their 30 per cent greening top up.

However, gaps in the reform still remain with ministers failing to reach a common ground on areas including the transfer of money between the two pillars of the CAP. Further discussions on implementations are now expected to be passed over to the ongoing EU budget talks.With the final details of the whole package not expected to be finalised until autumn, member states will only have a year to prepare for implementation in 2015.

Key elements of the reform package include:

Greening:With 30 per cent of the new direct payments subject to greening measures, there has been greater flexibility granted for member states to green direct payments. Legislation is also in place place to ensure greening measures are equal across theEU. It is planned that English farmers will join a single English Certification Scheme, where farmers are able to choose from a list of options to meet their greening requirements.

UK: All four UK administrations will have the flexibility to implement the reforms in the manor that they see fit.

Flexibility between pillars:While the details still have to be finalised, there will be flexibility for governments to transfer funds, expected to be up to 15 per cent and not co-financed, from Pillar One, direct payment to Pillar Two, rural development.

Reaction

“Negotiations between 27 agriculture ministers, theEUcommission and the European parliament werenever going to be easy,' said DEFRA environment secretary Owen Paterson.

Paterson says that the UK and Germany had opposed planned market organisation reforms driven by FrenchMEPMichelDantinthat would have taken the CAP ‘back to the dark days of butter mountains and wine lakes.'

“All along I have rejected moves that would increase costs for hard pressed consumers. British shoppers should not have to pay twice for the CAP - once through their taxes and again at the supermarket tills,” he added.

Meanwhile, revisions to the CAP reform have been backed by Sergio Marini, president of Italian farming organisation Coldiretti.

He explained: 'The agreement on CAP reform will reward those who live and work in the agricultural sector and exclude for the first time a blacklist of groups who have nothing to do with agriculture and above all giving Italy the opportunity to allocate resources only to active farmers.'

There was also praise from Irish MEP Martina Anderson, who says it will give Northern Ireland farmers greater flexibility.She concluded: I congratulate our Minister, Michelle O’Neill in achieving key objectives for our farmers in the north of Ireland. It is good that the vast majority of farmers are now recognised as being already compliant with the new greening requirements. In addition the fact that regional flexibility was secured is extremely important for our farming industry.'

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