"Spain will ask European Commission to advance 70% of payment of subsidies under CAP", says Isabel García Tejerina

Isabel García Tejerina made these statements in Luxembourg before going into the European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting, at which she pointed out that the advance payment of CAP subsidies comes on top of an important raft of measures being pushed through by the government in light of the current drought, such as aid for agricultural financing, measures of a fiscal nature, and the approval of the Royal Decree-Law on the exemption of fees for river basin authorities that are in a situation of alert or emergency (Jucar, Segura and Duero), as well as the deferment of National Insurance contributions.

These initiatives come on top of the agricultural insurance policy pushed through by the ministerial department, in which the financing of some modules are included up to the maximum amount permitted by the European Union. The minister also quoted the subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy which, in Spain, guarantee an average of 30% of all agricultural income.

Organic farming

On another note, Isabel García Tejerina highlighted the importance assigned by her ministerial department to organic farming, to which end work is being done to re-launch this type of production in Spain. In this regard, Isabel García Tejerina underscored the strong demands for organic farming in our country.

To this end, the minister stated that Spain will support progress on negotiations of the EU Regulation on Organic Farming and hopes to see this approved soon, since this guarantees that all organic products from third countries will have to meet the same requirements as those demanded for EU products.

Isabel García Tejerina specified that Spain would have liked to have seen a more ambitious regulation, since our country has a high level of controls and guarantees in relation to organic production. However, the minister stressed that Spain will facilitate the development of these debates so that the regulation can be approved shortly.