The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development drew up a draft order aimed at simplifying farmers’ access to direct payments financed from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund by clarifying definitions and adapting eco-schemes to on-the-ground conditions, according to a press release sent on Wednesday to AGERPRES.
‘The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, through the Managing Authority for the NRDP and the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027, has prepared a draft order amending and supplementing Order No 106/2024, which establishes the national framework for the implementation of direct payments financed from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund,’ the release said.
According to the source cited, the draft legislation seeks to simplify farmers’ access to payments, clarify key definitions and adapt eco-schemes to realities in the area, in line with the latest amendments to the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027.
The main changes include setting the period for submitting payment applications for the 2026 campaign, clarifying notions related to agricultural activity, fallow land and permanent crops and simplifying the conditions for defining an ‘active farmer’.
The draft also aims to revise several eco-schemes in order to reduce the administrative burden and broaden farmers’ access to support, including for small farms and farmers without livestock, as well as to update rules on coupled support in the crop and livestock sectors and expand the list of eligible crops in the fruit sector.
‘We are aiming for clearer, simpler and easier-to-apply rules so that European support effectively reaches farmers. The proposed adjustments stem from dialogue with the agricultural sector and from the need to adapt European policies to realities in Romanian farms,’ said the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Florin-Ionut Barbu, as quoted in the press release.
The draft order is under public consultation and can be viewed on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development website in the ‘Decision-making transparency’ section, under ‘Draft normative acts’. AGERPRES
