EU Commissioner Wojciechowski gave his first assessment last week of the national strategic plans of 19 EU countries, including that of the Netherlands.
Because these agricultural NSPs were drafted and submitted by the end of last year, prior to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, these countries have been given an additional three weeks to update their plans according to current circumstances.
Earlier, Brussels had announced that the Brussels assessment letters would be made public, but this has also been postponed for three weeks. As a result, no comparisons of the agricultural plans of EU member states are currently possible.
However, Wojciechowski said Monday evening in Strasbourg to the European Parliamentâs agriculture committee that the new CAP plans of the EU countries still need improvements in certain areas.
Regarding the climate and environmental objectives of several countries, he stated that âmore work is needed,â adding that â although some of the new eco-programmes are well developed â others still lack ambition or specific targets.
In several EU countries, the Commissionerâs assessment letters have been leaked to the media. For example, French press articles reveal that Brussels apparently has much criticism of the French plans and that Paris is being âinvited to provide clarifications and explanationsâ or âto make adjustments.â In contrast, Wojciechowski appears very positive about Austria, but has concerns regarding wetlands and marshy areas in Ireland.
Wojciechowski also emphasized that the EU does not consider abandoning or weakening the contribution of agricultural policy to the biodiversity strategy and Farm to Fork after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He specifically pointed out to EU politicians that the âmonitoring clauseâ of the Green Deal gives him the interim option to postpone fallowing in biodiversity areas for one year. He noted that this concerns about 4 million hectares, an area roughly comparable to the size of the Netherlands or the Czech Republic, he said.