The Bureau of the Union set up on March 1 by the three associations, AGPB (cereals), AGPM (maize) and FOP (oil and protein crops), has reviewed topical issues that concern arable crops.
The Bureau firmly criticised the decision of the European Summit in December last year which ruled that Member States could have further modulation of up to 20% of farmers’ direct payments to finance their rural development initiatives.
It should be noted that with compulsory modulation and levies to support national reserves, producers, who are often in difficult financial positions, will find that a significant part of their income is taken from them. It is therefore impossible to contemplate any further levy.
The European Summit decision is also an unacceptable attack on the coherence of the Common Agricultural Policy. It will obviously have a negative impact, distorting competition between farmers in EU countries implementing the new modulation and countries that do not implement it, and therefore operators in third countries. It would be quite irresponsible to enforce such a system.
No more modulation!