The common agricultural policy and non-payment of taxes and levies

Subject: The common agricultural policy and non-payment of taxes and levies

Is it contrary to Union law for a national regulation to make the provision of payments to farmers under the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund or the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development conditional on proof that the beneficiary has no arrears in the payment of taxes and levies such as health insurance contributions, social insurance and pension contributions and also that the beneficiary is not the subject of bankruptcy or similar proceedings?

Do such legal measures exist in any of the Member States?

If so, in which?

Answer given by Mr Hogan on behalf of the European Commission

(8 March 2019)

Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 and (EU) No 1307/2013 (1) provide for the legal framework for payments to farmers under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund. These regulations provide for rules on eligibility conditions that beneficiaries have to comply with in order to receive payments. In principle, Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 lays down a comprehensive framework with directly applicable eligibility conditions. Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 provides on the contrary that the EAFRD shall act through rural development programmes developed by Member States.

The question whether Member States can make the payments to farmers covered by these Regulations subject to additional eligibility conditions therefore cannot be answered in a general manner. It requires an analysis of the specificities of the condition, of the regulation under which the payments are provided, of the harmonisation laid down in the relevant Regulation and of the purpose of the eligibility condition and its link to the objectives pursued by the rules of the relevant Regulation.

The Commission has carried out such case-by-case analysis of conditions as referred to in the question in the framework of the approval procedure of rural development programmes under Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013, of requests or notifications from Member States and of complaints. In cases where additional eligibility conditions would jeopardise the attainment of the objectives pursued by the regulations, the Commission has asked Member States to remove them. The Commission however does not have an overview of all national regulations of Member States that might have the potential to fall within the list of conditions referred to by the Honourable Member.

⋅1∙ OJ L 347, 20.12.2013. | | ( | | )