At a recent meeting in Leipzig, EU Agriculture Commissioner Ciolos estimated that an agreement on CAP reform will be introduced in the first half of 2013 at the earliest: ‘I think it will be possible to end negotations under the Irish Council presidency,‘ he said. Although this will require a decision on the EU Finanical framework for 2014 – 2020 being made by the end of this year.
The Commissioner estimates that the outstanding technical issues linked to the reform could be resolved by the end of the summer, so that the outstanding policy questions could be presented at the end of the Danish presidency. The Parliament should finalise its reports in parallel to this process.
Ciolos wants to use the second half of 2012 under the Cypriot presidency to explain and promote his standpoint in Member States. He has ruled out the possibility of rolling over existing rules into 2013 should negotiations not be successful, at least for the second pillar. According to his statements, failure would be devastating to the rural development programs, as they would then lack legal basis.
Story in German here: http://www.topagrar.com/news/Home-top-News-Ciolos-erwartet-GAP-Einigung-nicht-vor-2013-711484.html
