Organic farming in Sicily. Late payments for 2015

Subject: Organic farming in Sicily. Late payments for 2015

On 30 April 2015 the Regional Department of Agriculture issued the call for applications for support for the purpose of converting to, or maintaining, organic farming methods under measure 11 of the 2014- 2020 rural development programme.

According to Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013, the support measures in question must apply equally to all recipients meeting the requirements, and payments must be granted ‘annually’.

The regional administration has drawn up the final list of farms eligible for support, but payment has been made in only 1 400 cases – out of more than 6 000 applications in all – for the 2015 marketing year and no payment arrangements have been made for the years 2016 and 2017.

In a notice issued on 7 July 2017 the regional administration stated that the delay was due to ‘anomalies’ which had caused problems with the SIAN computer system and had therefore held up the payment of aid claims. It said nothing, however, about ways of resolving the difficulties.

Although funding is available, there are about 4 500 organic farms which, three years on, have received no support and are thus in danger of bankruptcy.

1. Can the Commission give details of the anomalies affecting the SIAN computer system? Are they compatible with the EU’s ‘VCM’1 rules?

2. What solutions is the Commission considering following the recent meeting with the regional administration?

3. Will it adopt an exceptional procedure for ‘cases of emergency’, as provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013, in order to release the payments without delay?

1 Verifiability and controllability of measures.

Answer given by Mr Hogan on behalf of the European Commission

(17 July 2018)

1. The underperformance of AGEA, the national paying agency for 15 Italian Rural development programmes, including Sicily, is linked to the delays in programme implementation and, in particular, in the setting-up of the SIA N (2). The most recent information gathered in April/May 2018, shows that the Sicilian system is now ready and operational for the submission of applications for support and payment claims and fully compatible with the EU rules about verifiability and controllability of the measures (3). However, the Regional authorities report some difficulties in the functioning of SIAN for procedures related to the checks of applications, for different measures, including organic farming.

2. The issue was discussed in several meetings throughout 2017 and 2018, at the different levels, between representatives of DG Agriculture and Rural development, representatives of AGEA and of the Regional authorities, and it was also a subject of high level correspondence. Despite the issues mentioned above, the Regional authorities have indicated that they are confident that most payments related to 2015 claim year and concerning organic farming will be finalised by September 2018.

It should be recalled that, in the framework of shared management, the national and regional authorities are responsible for the implementation of the programmes, for the payments to beneficiaries and for the verifiability and controllability (VCM system).

3. The delays reported by the Honourable Member do not seem to fall within the context of the ‘emergencies’ as stipulated in Article 75(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1306/2013 (4) — e.g. an earthquake. Therefore, the adoption of implementing acts in order to deal with the issue are not deemed necessary and justified.

⋅1∙ Verifiability and controllability of measures.

⋅2∙ The informatics system for the management of applications and payments.

⋅3∙ Article 62 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013, OJ L 347, 20.12.2013.

⋅4∙ OJ L 347, 20.12.2013.