The European Parliament adopted by 592 votes to 81 with 14 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down certain transitional provisions on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and amending Regulation (EU) No [RD] as regards resources and their distribution in respect of the year 2014 and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 and Regulations relating to the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as regards their application in the year 2014.
Parliament adopted its position in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure. The amendments adopted in plenary were the result of a compromise between Parliament and Council. The main amendments to the Commission proposal aim, amongst other things, to:
· allow Member States to continue to undertake new legal commitments to beneficiaries in 2014, in relation to certain measures in the framework of current rural development programmes, and the resulting expenditure should be eligible for support in the new programming period;
· limit the negative effects resulting from difficulties that a number of Member States still face with respect to their financial stability, by extending the duration of the derogation increasing the maximum EAFRD contribution rates until the final date of eligibility of expenditure for the 2007-2013 programming period, on 31 December 2015;
· in 2014, authorise Member States not granting a redistributive payment and not opting for transferring funds to the second pillar via the flexibility mechanism not to reduce the value of all payment entitlements ;
· allow Member States to increase in 2014 the level of certain types of specific support to 6.5% in view of the introduction of the voluntary coupled support that will be available as from 1 January 2015 for certain sectors or regions in clearly defined cases;
· allow Member States in 2014 to redistribute direct support between farmers by granting them an extra payment for the first hectares;
· extend the period of application of the single area payment scheme by one year to 2014 and allow Member States applying this scheme to grant transitional national aid to farmers in 2014. Bulgaria and Romania should be able to opt for transitional national aid in 2014 instead of granting complementary national direct payments;
· allow Finland to be authorised by the Commission to grant national aid in southern Finland under certain conditions. Income aid should be gradually reduced over the whole period and, by 2020, not exceed 30 % of the amounts granted in 2013.