Amendments to Regulation (EU) 2021/2115
Article 1
Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 is amended as follows: (1) in Article 69, the following point is added: ‘(j) support to farmers affected by the severe increase in fertiliser prices due to the Middle East crisis.’ ; (2) in Title III, Chapter IV, Section 1, the following article is added: ‘Article 78b Support to farmers affected by the severe increase in fertiliser prices due to the Middle East crisis 1. Member States may provide exceptional temporary support to active farmers who are affected by the severe increase in fertiliser prices. Any such support provided shall be subject to the conditions set out in this Article and further specified by the Member States in their CAP Strategic Plans. 2. Member States shall ensure that the support under this Article targets those farmers who are most affected by the severe increase in fertiliser prices. They shall do so by determining eligibility conditions on the basis of available evidence. 3. The support under this Article shall cover a part of the additional costs of fertilisers caused by market developments resulting from the Middle East crisis in the period starting on 1 March 2026. The additional costs shall be calculated as the difference between a representative price for fertilisers and a benchmark price for fertilisers. Member States shall, on the basis of reasonable assumptions, define the benchmark price based on the average price for fertilisers over at least three consecutive months in the period between 1 January 2025 and 28 February 2026, and the representative price based on the price for fertilisers during a period determined by the Member State, which shall not start before 1 March 2026. The support under this Article shall take the form of a unit cost per hectare calculated on the basis of the average annual consumption of fertilisers per area, differentiated by sectors or production systems. Alternatively, Member States may base the support under this Article on the actual costs incurred by each beneficiary, using the same benchmark price as described in this paragraph. 4. Member States shall establish the applicable support rates covering up to 50 % of the additional costs for fertilisers. Those rates may be increased up to a maximum of 80 % for farmers who are subject to commitments referred to in Articles 31 and 70, or requirements referred to in Article 72, to reduce the use of fertilisers. For financial instruments in the form of a standalone working capital, Article 80(4) shall apply. 5. Member States shall set a maximum amount of support per beneficiary or a maximum number of hectares in respect of which support can be received per beneficiary. 6. The support under this Article shall be paid to the farmer by 30 June 2027. 7. Member States shall ensure that farmers receiving support under this Article have access to the relevant knowledge and information to enable them to optimise the sustainable use of fertilisers. 8. When granting support under this Article, Member States shall ensure that overcompensation as a result of the combination of intervention under this Article with other national or Union support instruments is avoided.’ ; (3) Article 80 is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: ‘1. Support in the form of financial instruments referred to in Article 58 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060 may be granted under the types of intervention referred to in Articles 73 to 78 and 78b of this Regulation.’ ; (b) in paragraph 3, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘3. In accordance with Article 58(2) of Regulation (EU) 2021/1060, working capital, including standalone working capital, may be eligible expenditure under Articles 73, 74, 76, 77, 78 and 78b of this Regulation if it contributes to the achievement of at least one specific objective relevant for the intervention concerned. Support for standalone working capital finance under any of those Articles may be provided without being subject to the requirement that the final recipient receives support for other expenditure under the same Article.’ ; (c) paragraph 4 is replaced by the following: ‘4. By way of derogation from Articles 73, 74, 76, 77, 78 and 78b, the support rates laid down in those Articles shall not apply to standalone working capital finance.’ ; (4) in Article 86(3), the following subparagraph is added: ‘By way of derogation from the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the CAP Strategic Plan may provide that, in the cases of a type of intervention pursuant to Article 78b, the eligibility of EAFRD-financed expenditure relating to amendments to the CAP Strategic Plan may start before the date of submission to the Commission of the request for amendment but not before 22 July 2026.’ ; (5) in Article 87(2), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘2. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 152 amending the Member States’ allocations set out in Annexes V and IX to take account of the developments relating to the total maximum amount of direct payments that may be granted, including the transfers referred to in Articles 17 and 103, the adjustment of the direct payments allocations referred to in Article 103a, the transfers of financial allocations referred to in Article 88(5) and any deductions needed to finance types of intervention in other sectors referred to in Article 88(6).’ ; (6) in Article 91(3), point (a) is replaced by the following: ‘(a) 65 % of the eligible public expenditure for payments for natural or other area-specific constraints under Article 71 and for support under Article 78b’ ; (7) Article 96a is replaced by the following: ‘Article 96a Maximum financial allocations for crisis payments to farmers referred to in Article 78a and support to farmers referred to in Article 78b 1. The maximum amount for each Member State that may be reserved for crisis payments to farmers following natural disasters, adverse climatic events or catastrophic events referred to in Article 78a and for support to farmers affected by the severe increase in fertiliser prices due to the Middle East crisis referred to in Article 78b shall be limited to the annual amounts set out in Annex XV. 2. A maximum of 25 % of the annual amounts set out in Annex XV may be reserved to finance the support to farmers referred to in Article 78b. 3. The total EAFRD expenditure for the crisis payments referred to in Article 78a and for the support referred to in Article 78b shall not exceed the sum of the indicative financial allocations for these types of intervention for financial years 2026 and 2027, as established by Member States in their financial plans in accordance with Article 112(2), point (a), and approved by the Commission in accordance with Article 119. That financial ceiling shall constitute a financial ceiling set by Union law.’ ; (8) in Title IV, the following Article is added: ‘Article 103a Direct payment allocations for calendar year 2027 By 31 August 2026, Member States may decide to increase or decrease their allocations for direct payments set out in Annexes V and IX for calendar year 2027 by an amount not exceeding the maximum increase or decrease set out in Annex XVI per Member State, as part of a request for a strategic amendment of their respective CAP Strategic Plans referred to in Article 119.’ ; (9) in Article 111, the second paragraph is replaced by the following: ‘Point (e) of the first paragraph shall not apply to the type of intervention in the apiculture sector referred to in Article 55(1), point (a) and points (c) to (g), interventions under the type of intervention in the wine sector referred to in Article 58(1), points (h) to (k), the information and promotion actions for quality schemes under the type of intervention for cooperation referred to in Article 77, interventions under the type of intervention for crisis payments to farmers following natural disasters, adverse climatic events or catastrophic events referred to in Article 78a, and interventions under the type of intervention for support to farmers affected by the severe increase in fertiliser prices referred to in Article 78b.’ ; (10) in Article 112(2), point (b) is replaced by the following: ‘(b) the transfers of the amounts referred to in point (a) between types of intervention in the form of direct payments and types of intervention for rural development in accordance with Article 103, any deductions of the Member State’s allocations for the types of intervention in the form of direct payments to make amounts available for the types of intervention in other sectors referred to in Title III, Chapter III, Section 7, in accordance with Article 88(6), and any adjustments of the direct payments allocations in accordance with Article 103a;’ ; (11) Article 119 is amended as follows: (a) in paragraph 2, first subparagraph, point (c) is replaced by the following: ‘(c) amendments related to Article 17(5), Article 88(7), Articles 92 to 98, Article 103(1), (5) and (6) or Article 103a;’ ; (b) in paragraph 7, the second subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘A request for strategic amendment related to Article 17(5), Article 78b, Article 88(7), Article 103(5) or (6) or Article 103a shall not count for the limitation laid down in the first subparagraph of this paragraph.’ ; (12) in Article 121, second subparagraph, point (b) is replaced by the following: ‘(b) for amendments related to Article 17(5), Article 88(7), Article 103(5) and Article 103a, the period for the adoption of the delegated act for the amendment of the allocations in accordance with Article 87(2).’ ; (13) in Article 146, the following subparagraph is added: ‘Member States may provide additional national financing of up to 200 % of the EAFRD financing allocated in the CAP Strategic Plan for support under Article 78b.’ ; (14) Annexes I and XV are amended in accordance with Annex I to this Regulation; (15) the text set out in Annex II to this Regulation is added as Annex XVI.