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Europaudvalget 2024-25
KOM (2025) 0236
Offentligt

Council of the

European Union

Brussels, 13 September 2023

(OR. en)

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AGRI 509

FOOD 66

PECHE 349

VETER 84

NOTE

From:

To:

Subject:

General Secretariat of the Council

Delegations

Simplification and better regulation in EU Common Policies on food,

agriculture and fisheries

- Information from the Danish delegation, on behalf of the Bulgarian,

Czech, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian,

Netherlands, Portuguese, Slovak and Swedish delegations

Delegations will find in the Annex a note from the Danish delegation, on behalf of the Bulgarian,

Czech, Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Netherlands, Portuguese, Slovak

and Swedish delegations, on the above mentioned subject to be dealt with under "Any other

business" at the Council meeting (Agriculture and Fisheries) on 18 September 2023.

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ANNEX

Simplification and Better Regulation in EU Common Policies on Food, Agriculture and

Fisheries

Information from the Danish delegation on behalf of Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,

Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Sweden

The common policies on food, agriculture and fisheries are some of the pillars of the European

Union. The sectors deliver a significant contribution to the European economy. While the policies

have undergone significant reforms in recent decades, more needs to be done to strike the right

balance between policy objectives and implementation and control rules, with more emphasis on

goal-oriented policies instead of directly prescribed measures. This is especially acute as Europe

faces major challenges related to climate change, environment, animal welfare, food availability

and affordability in the coming years. EU institutions, Member States, farmers, fishers, food

producers, the environment and consumers would all benefit from a rethink that puts simplification

at the heart of future legislative and policy reform proposals in line with the Better Regulation

Principles.

Better regulation in EU Common Policies on Food, Agriculture and Fisheries

Ensuring the internal coherence and compatibility between different policy areas, proposals and

existing EU legislation is important. Unintended overlaps and double regulation must be avoided.

Repeal of outdated legal acts and refit of existing legislation must be continued. All stakeholders

–

from authorities and large food companies to family farmers and consumers

–

must be able to

understand what rules apply to them. It creates uncertainty when several initiatives cover the same

scope and seek to address the same substance matter in different ways.

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As outlined in the Council (ECOFIN) on 16 June 2023, the systematic use of thorough impact

assessments is necessary, containing costs at Member State level for the entire scope of the

proposals. New proposals from the Commission must be accompanied by comprehensive impact

assessments that describe the positive and negative consequences of the proposal for society as a

whole, for the environment and for the stakeholders who are directly affected, e.g. food producers

and authorities. Impact assessments are crucial for the co-legislator to ensure that EU legislation has

the desired effect, without unnecessary burdens on Member States and businesses. In this context,

extensive public consultation is a powerful tool that needs to be fully utilized to collect the

necessary information on the impact of legislative action.

However, integrating simplification more firmly in the legislative process going forward will only

address future rule-making. A structured effort should also be made to simplify existing rules to

make them easier to understand and adhere to, as well as to encourage innovation and development.

The administrative and technical rules that stakeholders face most directly are often determined in

secondary legislation, through implementing and delegated acts. New legislative proposals should

clearly define the scope of implementing and delegated acts in order to avoid disproportional

burdens at a later stage.

Food safety and animal welfare

The Farm-to-Fork Strategy called for several new food labelling initiatives. Improved labelling may

contribute to healthier diets, increased sustainability and answer to consumer demands, but it also

represents an administrative burden to food producers and processors. New labelling requirements

should therefore be balanced and evidence-based so that they can help consumers make healthier

choices, contribute to animal welfare or sustainability, e.g. by reducing food waste, or be called for

by the consumers. Labelling needs to be easy to understand for consumers.

The European Commission is expected to present a proposal for a revision of EU animal welfare

legislation in the second half of 2023. Consumer expectations and scientific evidence call for

improvements in protection and enforcement. Consequently, it is all the more important that the

revision is carried out in a way that makes it straight forward for farmers to comply with the rules.

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Agriculture

The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-27 aimed to introduce a simplification with

the development of CAP strategic plans. Going forward, further simplifications will be needed to

ensure that the Common Agricultural Policy will be sufficiently flexible to support inter alia the

green transition of the sector. In this respect, more possibilities to support green measures should be

considered. Furthermore, in order to fully achieve the simplification potential of the strategic plans,

the approval process needs to focus on objectives and identified needs and avoid focusing on

details.

As another important simplification, it could be considered to allow not only annual but also

plurennial financial management of financial allocations for climate, environment and animal

welfare across both pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy, as is already possible under the

financial management of pillar II. This would mirror year-on-year fluctuations in agriculture and

provide farmers and Member States with a much needed flexibility.

Moreover, further flexibility to allow amendments if necessary in the CAP strategic plan under

pillar I during the year would constitute another important simplification for farmers and paying

agencies. It is important that the acceptance process of Member States’ strategic plan amendments

is clear and fluent, and that the Commission respects the Member States’

national leeway.

Fisheries

The 2013 reform of the Common Fisheries Policy introduced the landing obligation. It was a major

step forward for sustainability, but implementation and enforcement have been challenging for

fishers and authorities. Electronic monitoring including cameras is included in the revision of the

EU’s fisheries control system. Fishers using electronic monitoring including cameras should be

given more flexibility, for example in the choice and development of gears that are fit for purpose

for the individual fisher whilst securing the objective of management measures. In that way,

innovative methods and simplification can go hand-in-hand.

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One example of double regulation in the Common Fisheries Policy is fishing capacity ceilings. It

could be questioned if such ceilings are the most relevant tool in fish stocks management systems

where sustainable management of fish stocks is ensured by setting annual TACs and quotas. The

same applies in the case of small-scale coastal fisheries where passive fishing gear is used for

targeting local stocks, which are not managed at EU level and where national management

measures are in place. Furthermore, fishing capacity ceilings must not be a barrier to the green

transition on fishing vessels.

In recent years, consultations with third countries have become increasingly complicated. This has

major impacts on fishers’ planning. In the follow-up to the Commission’s Communication on the

Common Fisheries Policy today and tomorrow of 21 February 2023, it is important that emphasis is

put on ensuring smoother cooperation with third countries in the years ahead.

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