In a letter sent by the European Commission to Paris, revealed by the context site, the government is summoned to review several measures of its strategic plan.
by and
The French government will have to revise its copy. Its National Strategic Plan (NHP), which will decline at the level of France the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2023-2027, lack of environmental ambition, according to the European Commission. In a letter sent on March 31 to France, revealed and published by the information site context on April 4, Brussels List a Series of critics. With the Commission with the final validation of the strategic plans, it sent its returns to nineteen Member States which it had time to analyze the plans, leaving them three weeks to answer.
According to the 34-page document, the content of which has been confirmed in the world by several sources, the Commission considers that the Strategic Plan of France “only partially supports the ecological transition of the agricultural and forestry sectors”. A tool put in place by France is particularly criticized: the high environmental value certification (HVE), which will allow farmers to access the ecoregimalies, the green payment provided for in the future CAP. The Commission notes “with concern” that this label would offer the same level of compensation as organic agriculture, “while [its] specifications are much less restrictive”.
Since the presentation of the PSN of France in May 2021, the inclusion of HVE certification in the ecoregimalies is under the fire of criticism. The Ministry of Agriculture has indicated its intention to revise the conditions of access to the HVE, but the future specifications are not yet known. “In this context, France is asked to carry out the inclusion of the options of access to the ecoregime by the HVE certification, (…) to suspend these options in the NHP,” writes Brussels.
“risk of deconversion”
“The shortcomings of the NHPs that have been reported for months have been identified by the Commission, reacts the Ecologist Ecologist Benoît Biteau. The Hve is one of the weaknesses of the French plan – it is not the only one, But it is revealing. Far from being an intermediate step towards the bio, the HVE is a referral that diverts the farmers of the bio. “
More generally, the Commission is called “concerned about the overall conception of the ecoregime as well as by the low level of environmental and climate ambition proposed”. It proposes a “third level of payment rewarding farmers for the adoption of the most virtuous practices, as well as a bonus specific to the Natura 2000 zones or the habitats of the species covered by the Nature Guidelines”. An application expressed by organic farmers who want their environmentally friendly practices to be financially recognized.
You have 55.33% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.