The UK has struck a deal to keep the Common Agricultural Policy on its path of reform, the Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson announced today.
 
In response to pressure from the UK, the Agriculture Council has provided reassurance that each of the four UK countries can continue to implement CAP regionally.
 
Environment Secretary, Owen Paterson said, "A one size fits all approach to CAP just doesn't work.  England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales must be allowed the freedom to deliver outcomes tailored to their own circumstances.
 
"Working with all the Devolved Administrations and ensuring we spoke with one voice as part of these negotiations has been essential. I am delighted that we have successfully secured key changes to address concerns for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales on issues such as internal convergence and Areas of Natural Constraint. We will continue to represent the interests of the whole of the UK throughout discussions with European Parliament."

Greening measures

The Council agreed to the Environment Secretary's appeal for the UK to have freedom to design its own greening measures that will benefit the environment and UK farming.
 
At the start of the negotiations Member States were required to offer the European Commission's greening measures in parallel with their own.  Mr Paterson secured an important concession so that England can avoid the costs and confusion of parallel schemes by greening direct payments entirely through its own national scheme.
 
Mr Paterson made clear that the commission's greening outcomes should be delivered through a simple system, achieving environmental benefits without imposing unnecessary costs on farmers and securing value for taxpayers.  Today's decision will give England the opportunity to achieve these objectives by building on the success of existing agri-environment schemes. Discussions with farmers can now begin on how greening should be designed, alongside the next Rural Development Programme.
 

Paterson continued, "The EU requires all farmers to deliver environmental benefits for 30% of their Pillar One CAP payments.  The system that emerged from reforms under the previous Government was far too complex and the UK ended up being fined €550 million for not sticking to the rules. I've been absolutely clear that this must not happen again.  The UK should have the freedom to have a simple, easy to manage system that builds on our well established arrangements. We're now one very important step closer to being able to set our own greening measures, which work for farmers and use taxpayers' money more effectively to deliver real environmental benefits.
 
The majority of Member States were content to allow farmers to be paid twice under two different budgets for delivering the same environmental benefit. Mr Paterson made clear that he shares the European Parliament's strong opposition to this policy.
 
Despite significant pressure from some Member States to extend sugar beet quotas to 2020, the UK, working with allies, persuaded the Council to agree that they will end in 2017.
 

Sugar Beet Quotas

The Environment Secretary said, "Sugar beet quotas are bad for business and bad for consumers.  They are driving up the wholesale price of sugar by 35% and adding one per cent to hard pressed families' food bills.  I'm disappointed that they will continue beyond the date previously set for them to end but we have achieved a compromise and fought off calls for the end to be in 2020.

"Britain's cake, biscuit and confectionary industries support thousands of jobs and turn over billions of pounds each year.  The boom in global demand for western-style foods is creating huge opportunities for growth in this sector which we should not hold back.  I'm glad that sugar beet quotas will finally be scrapped and I'm determined to work with the Commission to ensure fair treatment for cane sugar refiners."

The EU Council concluded that coupled payments, the proportion of CAP subsidies linked to production, should increase.  Under today's proposals, Member States, including the UK, which have made the most progress in decoupling payments, will be allowed to pay up to seven percent of their direct payment budget as coupled payments.  The remaining Member States will be allowed up to twelve per cent.
 
"The UK and our allies are clear that coupled payments are part of the past," Paterson said. "It's disappointing that the Council proposed they continue, but today`s agreement is still a clear improvement on the European Parliament's proposal for 15% or even 18%. We continue to fight for a common low rate."
 
Mr Paterson claimed to have successfully fought off pressure from some Member States to see extended use of market intervention.  Reducing market intervention has helped to keep Europe on the path towards a more competitive farming sector, rather than one subsidised by taxpayers. He admitted,  "I'm pressing for further progress towards an open market that makes farmers less dependent on subsidies."

Slovakia, Slovenia refuse to sign council deal

Following two days of talks, ministers in Brussels claimed to have reached an agreement late on Tuesday. However, although Ministers did reach an incomplete compromise in CAP negotiations, Slovakia and Slovenia's ministers refused to sign the deal, which will go forward to talks with other stakeholders in the reform process.

The two ministers said their countries would not be fairly treated under the council's vision for reforms, but Simon Coveney, minister for EU president Ireland, said the overwhelming majority would provide a strong position from which negotiations could begin.

Although industrial farming lobbyists Copa-Cogeca described Tuesday's deal as "a step in the right direction," green groups denounced the compromises reached in council debating. The European Environmental Bureau accused ministers of "Hammering the final nail into the CAP greening coffin." EEB said on Tuesday that the Council agreement effectively undoes efforts by the Commission and European Parliament plenary to reduce the environmental impact of farming.

The group said in a statement " Whereas the text adopted by the European Parliament Plenary on March 13 essentially envisaged maintaining the status quo of direct payments to farmers whilst cleaning some of the worst excesses of the Committee for Agriculture vote, the Council today decided to kill what little hope remained for a greener CAP and to eliminate the few positive outcomes of the Parliament."

The trialogue negotiations will officially begin on 11 April. Parlementarians, Council ministers and Commission officials have said will attempt to reconcile their differences before the current EU presidency ends at the end of June.   

Environment secretary celebrates neonic victory
 
Earlier this week, Mr Paterson called on the European Commission to ensure that any decision on neonicotinoids is taken in light of field studies into their effects on bee populations. Today, eleven member states supported Mr Paterson's call for the Commission to use "all the latest scientific evidence." He said "I am determined to do what's right for bees. We should not be rushed into taking the wrong decision based on inconclusive evidence from laboratory tests. Our decision must be based on real bee activity in real fields.  The results of our field trials are now being peer reviewed and I have promised to make them available to all member states and the Commission in the next two weeks."

However, earlier in the month, the UK government's Environmental Audit Committee heard that the open air trials had been compromised, and that control bees had been exposed to neonicotinoid pesticides. Over 30 peer-reviewed studies have linked controversial neonicotinoid pesticides to harmful effects on insect pollinators since 2009, though the government has delayed making a decision on regulation until the results of its field trials are in.

Defra claims field trials will have grater validity. Research from Purdue University in the United States, published early last year suggests bees are suffering "Death by a thousand cuts," including from the effects of neonicotinoids. The NFU, which supports the government's stance, has admitted in documents submitted to the Environmental Audit Committee that "It is very well known that the current pesticide risk assessment systems for bees were not developed to assess systemic pesticides," such as neonicotinoids.