MEP Corina Cretu considers that the European Union's efforts to simplify the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represent a step forward, but there would still be a lot to adjust to make it more accessible for farmers.
"As always, I campaign for farmers to be relieved of these excessive bureaucratic burdens, so that they are no longer overwhelmed by administrative procedures. Equally, the EU's efforts to simplify the Common Agricultural Policy rules represent a step forward, but I believe that there is still a lot to be done to make the Common Agricultural Policy more accessible for those involved," MEP Corina Cretu wrote on her Facebook page on Tuesday.
The European parliamentarian referred to the results of the survey carried out by the European Commission regarding the simplification of the procedures on the Common Agricultural Policy, emphasizing that the farmers' grievances focused, in particular, on excessive bureaucracy.
"Last week the European Commission presented the preliminary results of its survey on simplification, which received 27,000 responses from across the bloc. According to it, a very large part of European farmers (78%) use external aid when preparing their applications for payments from the CAP, and approximately 44% of them declare that they have to report the same information several times. (...) Farmers' dissatisfaction is largely reflected in the excessive bureaucracy, and many declare that the Union's attempts to simplify the procedures and more complicated and expensive, highlighting the fact that any benefit is canceled by the expenses involved in this process", Corina Cretu pointed out.
According to the survey, MEP Corina Cretu emphasized, 24% of farmers spend between 5 and 6 days on the documentation regarding the funds coming from the Common Agricultural Policy, and 38% spend between one and 4 working days.