The Sectorial Conference on Agriculture and Rural Development unanimously approved on Thursday the modification of the National Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to introduce some flexibilities in both direct aid and rural development measures to improve their implementation.
As reported by the department led by Luis Planas in a statement, these measures have been agreed upon based on the experience of the first two years of the new CAP implementation.
According to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, who chaired the meeting, these are «minimal adjustments that deepen the flexibility and simplification aimed at ensuring the optimal execution of the strategic plan.»
COMPLETION OF AN EIGHT-MONTH PROCESS
«This approval marks the completion of a dialogue process between the Ministry, the autonomous communities, and the professional organizations of the sector that began eight months ago,» said the Ministry of Agriculture, recalling that the coordination body of the strategic plan, composed of the ministry and the autonomous communities, agreed on the modification proposal document on January 30, initiating an informal dialogue process with the European Commission.
Once the Commission gave its approval, the management body met again on the 14th to convey the final content of the modification, which received a favorable opinion from the strategic plan monitoring committee on Monday, the 26th.
Regarding the first pillar, the relationship between agrivoltaic systems – shared use between agricultural activity and photovoltaic energy plants – and farmland and pastures is clarified in terms of receiving CAP aid. Agricultural use must always take priority, and a limitation on the amount of cultivation space lost due to solar panel installation will be established.
NOW ELEVATED TO THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
Two modifications are also introduced in the agri-environmental schemes, eliminating the requirement that vegetative cover in woody crops must occupy 20% of the free canopy width during the summer period.
A new percentage of biodiversity spaces is also established for mixed farms, those that have at least two of these typologies: irrigated crops, rainfed crops, or permanent crops. Some adjustments are also made to the indicators of Sectoral Interventions for fruits and vegetables and wine.
In the second pillar, rural development measures, some adjustments are made to the financial allocation and the design and programming of certain interventions. Following the approval of the proposal in the Sectorial Conference and in accordance with the governance regulations of the CAP strategic plan, the Minister will now elevate it to the Council of Ministers for official submission to the European Commission for final approval, expected to occur in July.
Once the Commission’s final approval is obtained, the applicable decrees must be modified for the measures to come into effect definitively starting October 16, 2025, in preparation for the single application for CAP aid in 2026.
