In its Communication of April 2009 entitled ‘Towards a better targeting of the aid to farmers in areas with natural handicaps’, the European Commission reported that, under the co-ordination of the Joint Research Centre, an expert panel had identified eight soil and climate criteria that could be used to determine land with severe limitations for agriculture production. The Commission stated, however, that in order to fully understand the precise impact of the application of the biophysical criteria, the co-operation of the Member States was required through simulations on the basis of sufficiently detailed soil and climate data. They were requested to produce, within six months of the adoption of the Communication, maps of the areas that would be eligible for Less-Favoured Area payments under such simulations.

In its Resolution of 5 May 2010 (P7_TA(2010)0132) in response to the Communication, Parliament stated that ‘a final opinion on the basic territorial unit chosen, the criteria and the threshold values proposed by the Commission can only be given when the detailed maps drawn up by the Member States are available’.

Could the Council inform Parliament of the current state-of-play with regard to the preparation of the detailed maps? When will the Member States make these maps available for consideration by Parliament so that both arms of the Legislator are equipped with the same basic information that is central to the policy choices to be made in the context of CAP reform?

Tabled: 15.3.2012

Forwarded: 16.3.2012

Deadline for reply: 6.4.2012