The Netherlands has not yet submitted a final national strategic plan (NSP) for the new European agricultural policy to the European Commission. Earlier, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality Henk Staghouwer expected to submit the Dutch plan 'before summer.' Now, in a recent letter to the Dutch House of Representatives, the minister states there is 'interconnection with other trajectories.'
Staghouwer mentions, among others, the 7th Nitrates Action Programme, the National Rural Areas Programme, and the now expired derogation. He also cites as a reason that the European Commission has 'requested more insight into the national plans that the Netherlands foresees for agriculture' (read: wants to know how it stands with nitrogen pollution, biodiversity, and the reduction of livestock numbers).
Staghouwer will report in Brussels on Monday that he wants to reach an agreement with the European Commission 'in the summer, in principle.' But 'processing the outcomes of the negotiations and the technical details in the plan is expected to take more time. (…)
Therefore, the final submission of the amended NSP will only be feasible in September. Formal approval by the Commission will then still take a few weeks,' Staghouwer writes to the House of Representatives.
Other EU countries are also still consulting with European AGRI officials on various details of their national NSPs. These countries believe the implementation of the new agricultural policy (CAP-2023) should be postponed by one year. Additionally, some other EU countries feel that various European Climate and Environmental objectives are being offloaded onto their agriculture without sufficient financial compensation.
However, the new Czech chair of the EU Ministers of Agriculture does not believe the new CAP should be postponed at the very last moment. That would only lead to more uncertainty and confusion among farmers.
Nonetheless, the agricultural sector needs national strategic plans that are sufficiently flexible per country, emphasized Minister Zdenek Nekula last Monday in the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament.
Nekula did not say what would happen to EU countries that are unwilling or unable to align their national plans with the European agricultural policy on time. That consultation process must be completed before the summer recess, as previously agreed. Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski has hinted that agricultural subsidy payments could be suspended if necessary.