The new European Common Agricultural Policy should not be completely postponed at the very last moment. That only leads to more uncertainty and lack of clarity for farmers. However, the agricultural sector does need national strategic plans that are sufficiently flexible per country.
That is what Czech Minister Zdenek Nekula, who will chair the EU agriculture ministers for the coming half year, says.
Minister Nekula said he will not comply next Monday (at the monthly Ministry of Agriculture meeting) with requests from several EU countries to postpone the new CAP-2023, because the NSPs of all 26 EU countries have not yet been approved by Brussels.
Nekula did not say what will happen to EU countries that are still unwilling or unable to incorporate their national plans into the European agricultural policy. That consultation process must be completed before the summer recess, as previously agreed. Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski hinted that, if necessary, payments of agricultural subsidies could be suspended.
When presenting the Czech EU procedures for the coming half year, Nekula said in the AGRI agriculture committee of the European Parliament that much attention will also be paid to the new pesticide rules of Commissioners Timmermans, Kyriakides and Sinkevicius.
He said he expects that countries that have already significantly reduced their fertilizer use in recent years will be treated leniently in the new task allocation.
Various EP groups say that less fertilizer in agriculture is only possible if new natural agents or new GMO techniques are simultaneously available. Czechia wants to hold a major scientific conference on this later this year in Prague.