The Irish Presidency’s suggestion would constitute a step back in the fight for generational renewal in the sector, encouraging Member States to do the least possible for young farmers.
Both the European Parliament and European Commission agree with CEJA on the need for a mandatory top-up of direct payments for young farmers as well as a favourably co-financed installation aid package under rural development. However, the Irish Presidency’s proposed landing zone of a mandatory measure either in Pillar I or Pillar II is unacceptable to young farmers. These two measures are complementary to each other – installation aid under Pillar II helps young people to enter the sector, while a top-up of direct payments in the first years of business will help them to stay afloat in the first and hardest years of farming. This idea goes hand in hand with the different philosophy between both pillars of the CAP, using a combination of direct payments as income support for farmers and targeted measures under rural development.
Encouraging Member States to implement a measure for young farmers in just one of the Pillars by making young farmers an ‘either/or’ mandatory measure not only defeats the original rationale behind the combination of measures, but would also create an uneven playing field for young farmers across the European Union and lead to increased complications and administrative burden of the new CAP. It is for this reason that CEJA is calling for a mandatory top-up of direct payments in Pillar I which maximises the 2% of the national envelope which should be devoted to young farmers as well as a strong package of installation aid measures under rural development. Commenting on this issue, CEJA President Joris Baecke said: “The two measures should be used in combination with each other to tackle the age crisis – not only to assist young people in entering the sector, but to ensure their business can get off the ground in the first years of farming – letting Member States choose one or the other will lead to feeble attempts at addressing the serious age crisis EU farming is facing, as well as inequality for young farmers across the Union. This is unacceptable, and the European Parliament and Commission must not give in to Council pressure on this crucial point.”
