OPEKEPE still pays 780 million euros in connected, Ecological Schemes and old debts – 2024-05-02 13:40:35

Yesterday and today, Holy Tuesday, the accounts of beneficiaries are credited with a total amount of aid that exceeds 780 million euros and which concern Linked Aid, Ecological Schemes, Basic aid, newly entrant farmers and redistributive aid 2023, far exceeding the initial announcements of 700 million . euro.

The commitment of the political leadership of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food, the Administration of OPEKEPE, the General Directorates of the HYPAAT as well as the Administrative Authority, to faithfully adhere to the schedule is being put into practice, refuting all those who talked about payments after Easter by fully implementing the our commitments to people in the primary sector.

With a view to transparency and the valid and timely information of the producers, following clarifying instructions for the beneficiaries.

With regard to the granting of coupled aid for the coupled aid schemes for the crops of edible pulses, forage pulses, maize, apples, leguminous pulses, seeds and given the late registration in the application in the prescribed period of registration of quantities, OPEKEPE assures the specific beneficiaries that there is no cause for concern and because it is precisely aware of the problem, it will give the possibility to institutions and producers in the coming days to take any corrective actions and registrations in order to make additional payments to those who are entitled to them as soon as possible .

With regard to the linked aid for the cultivation of seeds and as there are no ELGA findings, the cases that were affected due to extreme weather phenomena will be dealt with by force majeure requests to the competent regional offices of the Agency to be included in the next supplementary payment.

Given that this year is the first year of the implementation of the CAP SS and the first year of application of the new eligibility conditions for the linked aids, the services of OPEKEPE and the General Directorates of Agriculture and Food of the YPAAT, evaluated some findings of the payment that need immediate further examination and control .

It is noted that what is mentioned in the CAP SS is impossible to change or modify at the given time and formed the basic principles of resource allocation.

Important differences between the years 2022 and 2023 are that in many of the aids, the eligibility conditions and the amounts of the aids have changed, following those listed in the CAP’s SS.

Differences are also found in the requirement of deliveries in all regimes. For example, in 2022 there was no requirement for deliveries in pulses but also in other terms such as e.g. for the aforementioned apples. Nevertheless, in the context of the consolidation of the Organization and its correct and transparent operation with the aim of more fair payment of aid, all the above issues will be re-examined, immediately after the completion of the payments.

In accordance with the commitments of the political leadership of the HYPAAT, all those cases that held more than 16,500 producers hostage are checked and for the cases where no findings are made, the payment procedures proceed. Already for 2023, of these, 6,850 beneficiaries are being paid who were checked and no findings emerged. For cases where there have been findings, the sanctions procedure will be followed, as provided for by national and EU law. The same applies to the cases where producers had appealed to Justice for non-payment of their subsidies by OPEKEPE and were vindicated, as well as for 2,480 pending cases since 2014.

Differences between 2022 and 2023 in connected

Specifically for the following categories of affiliates, it was found:

For the associated apple, for the year 2022 the amount of support was 3,854,643 euros, eligible area in hectares 9,494.65 and amount per hectare 405.98 euros. And for 2023 the corresponding figures are, amount of support 542,800 euros and eligible area 2,284.15 and amount per hectare 237.63 euros.

It is noted that now according to the SS CAP, only apples that are PDO and PGI are subsidized in specific local communities and there is a delivery requirement.

For the Corinthian raisin, for 2022: amount of support 4,818,304 euros, eligible area in hectares 7,526.2 amount per hectare 561 euros. Height connected for 2023, was 3,518,628, eligible area 9,527.76 hectares and amount per hectare 369.3

For the protein-rich rice puddings: Amount of support for 2022: 24,871,396, eligible area in hectares 204,648, amount per hectare 121.53 euros. For 2023: Support amount 16,179,600, eligible area 197,978.96 hectares, amount per hectare 181.72 euros

For the industrial tomato, for 2022: Amount of support, 2,890,983 euros, eligible area 3,505.6 and an amount of 805 euros per hectare. For 2023: Connected height 2,233,856 euros, eligible area 5,005.59 amount per hectare 446.27 euros

For orange for juice, for 2022: Amount of connected support 5,357,695 eligible area in hectares 8,358.94, amount 588 euros per hectare. In 2023: Amount of support 3,573,460 euros, eligible area in hectares 16,357.87, amount per hectare 218.45 euros.

It is also noted that:

For durum wheat in 2022 the amount per hectare was 58.3 euros and for 2023 it was 88.86 euros.

For legumes the amount per hectare in 2022 was 181.26 and in 2023 441.24

For protein forage legumes, the amount per hectare was 75.6 and in 2023 it was 202.5 euros

The remaining amounts of the affiliates do not show significant differences.

Sections and reforms in OPEKEPE continue and we will not hesitate to highlight, but above all to correct, possible oversights and failures. Our guiding principle is always the interest of Greek producers and the distribution of Community aid in a transparent, impartial and fair manner.

The Minister of Rural Development and Food Lefteris Avgenakis stated:

“Today and tomorrow the payments of the linked aid and ecological schemes are being completed, faithfully following the schedule we set in collaboration with the new administration of OPEKEPE, from the beginning of February.

For the first time this year, ecological schemes are implemented. A new and at the same time difficult process. In essence, they replace “greening” and in addition to administrative declarations, they also require additional actions on the part of the producers, in order to activate the specific aids. This fact created an additional administrative burden for OPEKEPE but also for the producers themselves.

Nevertheless, we are consistent in the schedule we set.

I remind you that the IACS declaration was activated, as we promised, almost five months earlier than last year, on April 1, while the control of the 16,500 reserved TINs and old forgotten TINs from 2014 continues.

The great effort for the consolidation and proper operation of OPEKEPE continues with consistency and determination. Our goal is to serve our producers through a fair, transparent and modern European payment system.”

Instant update with all the news now and via WhatsApp – See here

#OPEKEPE #pays #million #euros #connected #Ecological #Schemes #debts

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.