Copa and Cogeca welcomed today the EU Commission decision to extend the deadline for aid applications under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), saying it will give farmers and Member States more time to properly prepare their applications.
Speaking in Brussels, Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said: “This is welcome news. We called for this as many of the rules under the new CAP are still new and complicated to apply. Some Member States are also still getting their IT systems up and running and this will give famers and member states more time to avoid making unnecessary errors when preparing their applications”.
“Farmers and their cooperatives are currently suffering a serious crisis, with producer prices often not covering input costs, and the last thing they need is to have their aid applications rejected. But we hope that it will not reduce the efficiency of the measures and that farmers in some Member States who have completed their forms get paid on time”, he added.
Under the move, the deadline has been extended from May 15 to June 15 and it’s up to Member States to decide if they apply the rule or not. The decision is due to come into force in the coming days, once it has been published in the Official Journal.
