Mapa and CCAA begin the preparation of the Strategic Plan of the CAP post 2020

The Secretary General of Agriculture and Food, Fernando Miranda, has chaired, at the headquarters of the Ministry, a meeting with representatives of the Autonomous Communities, to begin the work of preparing the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy, post 2020, as agreed at the last Consultative Council on Agrarian Policy held on January 21.

A Plan, pointed out the Secretary General, in which the autonomous communities, as well as agricultural organizations, environmental organizations and the rest of the agents of the sectors related to agriculture, livestock, forestry and rural areas should participate. .

During the working session, the representative of the European Commission, invited by the Ministry to participate in the meeting, Maria Angeles Benitez, has transferred the support of the European Commission to the process that now begins in Spain for the start of the Strategic Plan, presenting Ricard Ramón, who will be the representative of the European Commission in charge of coordinating the Spanish plan, who has explained in detail what the Strategic Planning procedure consists of.

For its part, the Secretary General, has presented the work program for the year 2019, during which the phase related to the analysis of needs must be completed, with the aim that, during the first half of 2019, it can be completed the phase of the intervention strategy, in which the interventions or concrete measures are defined through which the new CAP will be applied in Spain.

With this, said Miranda, Spain would be able to present its Plan in 2021, with a view to its entry into force in 2022 or 2023 and aspire to present its program as soon as the PAC negotiation schedule allows.

Fernando Miranda explained that the work of preparing the Plan, will run in parallel with the negotiation of the future of the budget of the European Union for the period 2021-2027, as well as with the negotiations of the CAP itself, so that the pace of work and, eventually, its content, must adapt as these negotiations advance.

In any case, he pointed out, Spain can not stand waiting for what happens, but must move in parallel with the negotiating agenda, so that, when it is concluded, all the work is as advanced as possible.

Work groups

During the meeting, the Ministry has presented a draft that establishes the working methodology, as well as the documents for the first two working groups with the autonomous communities, in which the objectives related to the profitability of the farms will be addressed. , to the incorporation of young farmers to the agrarian activity and the role of women in agriculture and the rural environment.

During the month of March, the working groups related to these specific objectives will meet. It is expected that, until the end of 2019, the Ministry will hold several monthly meetings with sector agents to complete the first phase of the Plan related to the needs analysis linked to each of the specific objectives of the CAP.

The Ministry has also announced the upcoming opening of a website in which it will report the content of all the meetings that it carries out in the framework of the elaboration of the Strategic Plan, with all the agents, and where all the relevant documentation will be collected, which will serve of instrument to facilitate participation and transparency throughout the process, whose total duration is expected to extend for eighteen months.

The preparation of a Strategic Plan for the CAP does not mean a change in the distribution of powers between the General State Administration and the autonomous communities. These will continue to participate in the elaboration of the measures of the First Pillar of the CAP, which will continue to have a national character and will be responsible for designing the measures of the Second Pillar.

The preparation of this Plan will be a great challenge in terms of coordination by the Ministry and cooperation on the part of all administrations and agents involved, so that the whole is coherent with each other, so that the measures that are finally adopted are more useful and effective for their final recipients: farmers, ranchers, foresters and the rural environment.

The Strategic Plan of the CAP will have an associated financial allocation, adding community funds and national funds, much higher than € 50,000 million, which makes the agri-food sector and the rural environment, the recipient of one of the policies of most important support of the European Union.