Excessive administrative burden and red tape faced by European farmers

Subject: Excessive administrative burden and red tape faced by European farmers

Commission data clearly shows that the administrative and bureaucratic burden placed on Europe’s farmers is excessive and leads to financial losses.

According to the Commission survey, around 33 % of European farmers are having to spend six days a year on bureaucratic and administrative tasks.

Those wishing to apply for EU financial support in particular are faced with an excessive and taxing amount of red tape.

In view of this:

Does the Commission intend to lighten this cumbersome administrative load for European farmers, particularly those in mountainous and remote areas?

Submitted:21.4.2024

Answer given by Mr Wojciechowski on behalf of the European Commission (13 June 2024)

The Commission’s simplification package of 22 February 2024 (1), including a proposal to modify the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) basic legislation (2), aimed to reduce administrative burden weighing on farmers’ shoulders.

Among others, these actions provide Member States with greater flexibility in shaping farmers’ CAP obligations according to local circumstances, remove conditionality controls for small farmers, clarify the possibilities for correcting unintentional errors in application of CAP rules and of the use of force majeure and exceptional circumstances clause to tackle more efficiently the consequences of abnormal circumstances, thus reducing the uncertainty and helping save farmers’ time. These actions will also benefit farmers from mountainous and remote areas.

The CAP framework for 2023-2027 provides Member States with a significant leeway to establish own arrangements for CAP interventions, controls and sanctions, and to seek synergies with their national systems in a way that reduces administrative burden for farmers.

The Commission will continue work with Member States to assist them in these actions, while maintaining the overall orientation and ambitions of the CAP to support the sustainability transition of European agriculture.

To understand the rationale behind farmers’ replies to the survey on the administrative burden, in-depth interviews with selected respondents will be conducted. This will feed a dedicated study on simplification and administrative burden for farmers scheduled to be finalised by end of 2024.

Lessons learned from the ongoing simplification process will also feed the reflection on the CAP after 2027.

1 ∙ ⸱ https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_24_1002

2 ∙ ⸱ The proposal has already been adopted by the co-legislator: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L_202401468