The European Commission has approved the national strategic agricultural plans of five EU countries and expects to reach agreement with five other countries by early September. In these NSPs, the EU countries indicate how they each intend to implement the Common Agricultural Policy in their own country.
“I am very pleased to announce that we have completed discussions with Portugal, Poland, Spain, Denmark, and France. These countries can now begin preparations for the year 2023,” said Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.
He added that five other countries will “soon” join this group. The Netherlands, Germany, and Ireland are expected to be among them. It is known that the Netherlands has not yet reached an agreement with Brussels on reducing nitrate and nitrogen pollution. Discussions on this are still ongoing at both the administrative and political levels.
“The approval process takes about six weeks, so we should have the first approvals by early September,” said the Agriculture Commissioner. Wojciechowski emphasized that Brussels is “doing everything possible” to conclude the talks “as soon as possible.”” Last week, the Pole reported that he had also been in contact with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and LTO chairman Sjaak van der Tak about this.
Carla Boonstra, the Dutch Agricultural Counsellor at the Permanent Representation (PV) to the EU, said that the Netherlands wants to make adjustments “no later than in the first weeks of September.” This may coincide with an expected new recommendation from the EU Nitrate Committee regarding the Dutch manure derogation.
Boonstra, who was standing in for Minister Staghouwer, stated that failure of the negotiations would be “extremely damaging.” She emphasized that the Netherlands does not advocate postponing the new agricultural policy “because of the situation in Ukraine,” as some EU countries are still promoting.
A majority of the agriculture ministers called on Commissioner Wojciechowski to implement the new agricultural policy as soon as possible, without specifying a date or year.
In response, Wojciechowski pointed to the historic significance of the NSPs now being introduced: although the EU still has a Common Agricultural Policy, its implementation is in the hands of each of the 27 EU countries. The policy set at the EU level is guiding but not binding; the national agreements between farmers and their governments will be binding in the future..