Agriculture and Rural Development 2022

Infringement cases open at year-end 2018 - 2022

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By clicking on the multi-level chart, you can consult, for 2022, the number of infringement cases open at the year-end per policy sector and per type of infringement.

Compliance promotion activities in 2022

Meetings with Member States

In 2022, a new sub-group of the Standing Forestry Committee was created to advise on the preparation of a proposal for a new EU framework for forest monitoring and strategic plans.
The Commission held 155 meetings of expert groups in 2022 in the area of Agriculture and Rural Development.
In 2022, the Commission published on the Commission Register the Terms of Reference and the Rules of Procedure for all of its Expert Groups in the area of Agriculture and Rural Development. Those documents, clearly describing the mandate, role and functioning of advisory groups, set the legal, policy and procedural framework under which the groups operate. Such clarity contributes to a greater transparency and allows to better target the expertise sought at national level, eventually resulting in a better implementation of the decisions taken.
The Commission held in 2022 altogether 101 meetings of committees, such as meetings of the common agricultural policy committee, Committee for the Common Organisation of the Agricultural Markets, Rural Development Committee, Committee on the Agricultural Funds, Committee for Direct Payments, Agricultural Product Quality Policy Committee, Committee for Spirit Drinks, Committee on Organic Production, Committee for the Farm Accountancy Data Network.

Other compliance promotion tools

In total, in 2022, the Commission adopted 25 delegated acts and 480 implementing acts (not all involving opinions of the committees). The following topics were predominant throughout the same year: common organisation of the agricultural markets, organic production, quality policy, horizontal questions concerning the common agricultural policy (CAP) as well as Food Security Crisis preparedness and response Mechanism.
The Commission carries out regular audits in Member States with a view to verifying the Member States’ respect of the EU legislation regulating the support provided via the CAP to farmers and other beneficiaries. In case of non-compliances or system control deficiencies, the Commission can recover EU financing from the Member States. Such financial corrections proved to be effective mechanisms for correcting the errors made and protecting the EU budget. To strengthen the Member States' control systems and to safeguard future expenditure, the Commission requests and assists the Member States to implement an action plan to remedy the deficiencies. In addition, the Commission continues to safeguard the EU financial interests by applying interruptions and reductions/suspensions of the payments to the Member States if deficiencies persist.
Finally, in 2022, the Commission worked with Member States on their national CAP Strategic Plans (Regulation (EU) 2021/2115) that had to be submitted to the Commission for approval. The Commission approved all Plans in 2022, so that Member States can apply them as of 1 January 2023 to implement the CAP for the years 2023 to 2027. These plans set out how Member States intend to achieve the common agricultural policy objectives, including on the European Green Deal. Steady support to Member States ensured that these plans are in line with EU legislation.

Follow-up given to petitions

In the area of the common agricultural policy, the Commission received five petitions concerning an alleged breach of EU law:

Croatian Prošek wine and on the recognition of its protected geographical indication (Petition 1025/2021);
Accessibility of EU agricultural funds in Bulgaria (Petition 1182/2021);
Strategic security of food supply and agricultural production in the EU (Petition 0279/2022);
Alleged irregularities in European common agriculture policy (CAP) funds (Petition 0133/2022);
Alleged infringement of EU rules on organic farming in Sweden (Petition 0386/22).

The petitions concerned mainly the alleged breach of the following EU regulations in Member States and in relation to the common agricultural policy:

The Commission gave replies to these petitions, including in the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee meeting of 15 June 2022 (Petition 0279/2022). No breach of EU law was identified in those petitions and there was no enforcement action in result of these petitions.

Important Court of Justice rulings against Member States

Commission v Denmark (AOP Feta), C-159/20.

Important preliminary rulings

Benedetti Pietro e Angelo S.S. and Others v Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura (AGEA), C-377/19;
Sātiņi-S, C-234/20.

Outlook for 2023

In 2023, the Commission will continue important enforcement work in the area of Agriculture and Rural Development. In particular, the Commission plans to:

Conduct conformity assessments of the transpositions by Member States of Directive (EU) 2019/633 on unfair trading practices in business-to-business relationships in the agricultural and food supply chain;
Continue audits and financial corrections based on Regulation (EU) 2021/2116 on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural and repealing Regulation (EU) 1306/2013;
Conduct audits in the organic sector, to control application of Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) 834/2007.