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Brussels makes mincemeat of Dutch implementation of the CAP
The European Commission strongly criticizes the Dutch implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), as laid down in the National Strategic Plan (NSP). The Commission agrees with the direction taken in the Dutch NSP - with an emphasis on nature restoration and biodiversity - but the NSP contains many gaps and inconsistencies and needs to be substantially improved.
This is evident from the strategic assessment of the NSP, which Henk Staghouwer, Minister of LNV, sent to the House of Representatives this week. The committee writes: "The NSP of the Netherlands requires further substantial improvement." The many missing, incomplete or inconsistent elements in the plan raise serious concerns about the consistency between the identified challenges and the proposed actions, which prevents a thorough assessment. According to the Commission, for each identified problem, the measures should be reviewed or significantly improved. The Netherlands must substantiate how and to what extent the proposed measures contribute to solving that problem.
Further substantiation
The Commission asks for a further explanation as to why certain challenges are not or only partially addressed in the NSP. The proposed target values must also be made more specific by formulating an adequate level of ambition that is in line with the formulated objectives. In short, there are no measurable target values for air and water quality, the use of plant protection products and manure. The Commission also wants to know how the NSP relates to the national climate and transition fund and the nitrogen fund, where €35 billion and €25 billion respectively have been released. These funds and the NSP should complement and reinforce each other. Whether and how this happens is not clear to the Commission, however, and it therefore requests that it be explained in more detail.
It is not yet possible to say whether the assessment of the plans of other countries is also so critical. Brussels has not yet made the individual assessments public. The Commission does have a summary of the results published from the 19 Member States that submitted their NSPs before the January 1 deadline. In it, the Commission writes that the draft NSPs vary in the extent to which they are complete. "A number require further completion and a few require a major overhaul to fully assess their consistency, ambition and financial allocations." The Dutch NSP seems to fall into the latter category.
Reaction Staghouwer
Minister Staghouwer does not seem to attach much importance to the assessment, according to the accompanying letter which he sent to the House of Representatives. "In the observation letter, the Commission indicates what needs further explanation or adjustment in the plans of the Member States, so that the CAP-NSP can be finally approved," writes Staghouwer. "The progress of the assessment of the Strategic Plans for the new CAP was discussed in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council of 21 March. The European Commission also indicated that the plans of the Member States still need to be adjusted in certain areas. for the Dutch CAP-NSP. Such a response from the Commission is not unusual in the European context," said the minister.
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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