Effectively, this measure extends the deadline by which direct payments must be made from 30 June to 15 October. Read more on the Europa website here.
NFU comment:
NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: “Commissioner Hogan’s announcement on extending the deadline for BPS 2015 payments to October 15 is a very worrying principle for the NFU.
“The disallowance fines for late payments which formerly pressured paying agencies have been temporally relaxed for 2016 for Member States choosing to take this derogation. This does not send the right signals to farmers, especially those in England who are still waiting to be paid the £60million outstanding in BPS monies, while Member States are 'let off the hook'. However, we are yet to have confirmation of the UK taking this derogation.
“If the extended deadline is taken by the UK, the NFU is firmly in the belief that the RPA must continue to work on these phases of work in a manner that delivers correct payments without delay.”
"The NFU continues to put pressure on the RPA to deal promptly with three key phases of BPS work over the coming months:
- To deliver remaining full and top up payments;
- To deliver correction payments and associated data to those who believe they have had wrong full payments issued;
- And to deliver correct full 2016 payments to at least 90% of famers by the end of December 2016.”