EU Agriculture Ministers reached an agreement on a general approach on the four main proposals for regulations within the framework of reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP). This agreement will enable negotiations to be launched between the Parliament and the Council with a view to political agreement in June this year.

The Council announced that EU Ministers reached an agreement on a general approach on the four main proposals for regulations within the framework of reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP). On the proposal for a regulation establishing rules for direct payments to farmers, Ministers agreed that this scheme provides for increased flexibility on convergence of the level of direct payments at national or regional level by allowing member states to move towards partial rather than full convergence by 2019, to limit the first convergence step to 10% of the national or regional ceiling, to employ alternative convergence options, and to apply convergence to the greening payment. Recently, MEPs also adopted European Parliament's position for negotiations with member states on the EU farm policy.

As regards the proposal for a regulation establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products, the Council agreed to extend sugar quota regime until the 2016/2017 marketing year. The agreement also provides that 25% of the direct payment received in addition to the level of the "greening" payment should apply, on the level of the administrative penalties in case of non respect of "greening" requirement.

With regard to the proposal for a regulation on support for rural development, the aggregation threshold for the new delimitation has been maintained at 60%. Furthermore, when carrying out the fine-tuning exercise to exclude areas in which significant natural constraints have been overcome, member states can also consider evidence of normal land productivity. Moreover, as regards areas with natural constraints, the agreement has included flexibility by suggesting that the phasing out of payments becomes degressive by 2016 at the latest. Member states may decide to start, and finish, the phasing out earlier. The first degressive payment must be no more than 80% of the average of the payment foreseen in the current programme.