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Honourable Minister,
Dear representatives of the political parties,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Dear Mayors and representatives of local government,
Former Minister of Defence,
Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners,
Mr. Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture,
Mr. Director General of the Ministry of Interior,
Madam Commissioner for State Aid Control,
Dear Representatives of Farmers' Organisations and other organised bodies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ladies and Friends,
Dear Executives of the Agency,
Gentlemen of the Media,
The Cyprus Rural Payments Agency celebrates this year, through this modest ceremony and in your presence, 20 years since its establishment in 2003 with the passing of the Law "On the Establishment and Operation of the Agricultural Payments Agency and other related matters" and given the accession of Cyprus to the European Union in April 2004. Since then, 20 years of hard work and away from the limelight have passed in order to implement the decisions of the Common Agricultural Policy, as they have emerged and result from the Strategic Plan of Cyprus and the European Directives and Regulations.
It implements the political decisions taken both at national and European level to support the rural economy. During these 20 years, and going through many difficulties, the Cypriot agricultural economy has been subsidised through the CAP to the tune of more than two billion euros. The aim and purpose of this support was and is the sustainability of the primary sector, the modernisation of agricultural and livestock production, the development of the processing of traditional products, pro-environmental actions in the agricultural and livestock sector, food safety, support for the sector through programmes for young farmers, the strengthening of rural communities and a multitude of other actions and programmes as decided by the government through the Strategic Plan, which is submitted and approved by the Council of Ministers. A task that starts with the submission of the application by the beneficiary, submission of accompanying documents required, checking the validity of the application, extracting sample field checks, administrative and other checks, approval of the application and valid and timely grant to the beneficiary.
With a total of more than 33,000 applicants and a plethora of different measures, projects, schemes and interventions, you realize that the work required to process, approve or reject applications is enormous.
Starting 20 years ago, with no permanent staff, with contractors, consultants, no offices, no computer equipment, with applicants submitting their applications by hand and crowded outside the application points, the Cyprus Rural Payments Agency has managed to become one of the most modern and flexible payment agencies in the European Union. It has managed to participate equally, effectively and with an opinion in all the competent European Institutions and to successfully overcome the multitude of controls by the control mechanisms of the European Union, the certification body and the Cyprus Audit Office.
Today the Agency employs 219 employees and is organised in eight departments and four services in order to be able to carry out its work efficiently. The backbone of the CFCA consists of the Direct Payments Department, the Rural Development and Common Market Organisations Department, the Payments Execution Department, the Accounts Maintenance and Clearance Department, the Administration and Human Resources Department, the Technical Services and Audit Department, the Information Technology Department, the District Office Coordination Department, the Internal Audit Service, the Anti-Fraud and Legal Affairs Service, the Accreditation and Horizontal Affairs Service and the Office of the Commissioner, and the Public and International Relations Service. In order to serve farmers, the CMO has five district offices in Nicosia, Limassol, Paphos, Larnaca and Famagusta, as well as two regional offices in Polis Chrysochous and Kyperounda.
The majority of applications to the Agency today are submitted electronically and through very modern software programs and procedures, satellite images, and the use of smart phones by applicants, it is possible to continuously monitor the agricultural activity from the submission of the application to the payment.
The modern procedures, which are now the norm in the European Union and which are applied by analogy in Cyprus, as well as the continuous electronic communication between the applicant and the CAP, are typical of the great effort made in relation to controls and the cooperation that the European Union now requires between the farmer and the paying agency. This new approach aims to reduce bureaucracy, increase the efficiency of controls, and lead to a reduction in penalties and discrepancies.
The CIO has a very strong IT department, which it is constantly trying to upgrade in order to be able to meet the multiple and increased needs arising from European obligations. It participates in a number of research projects, developed by various universities with European funding, and from the year 2022 it implements, like most countries of the European Union, the monitoring controls known as monitoring. It also has applications on smart phones for taking real-time photos and confirming or disputing a decision.
But no cooperation with our applicants could be effective without the prior consultation of the Cyprus Rural Payments Agency with our farmers' organisations. The CIO, in cooperation with the farmers' organisations, promotes training and information programmes for our applicants, so that our farmers can adopt developments and new technologies, but also be able to apply them.
We are therefore all called upon to operate in a dynamic and changing environment, which requires rapid and effective adoption of the changes we need to implement. A typical example is the New Common Agricultural Policy 2023 - 2027, through which the Cypriot agricultural economy will be subsidised to the tune of more than €450 million. The multi-dimensional Strategic Plan submitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and approved in December 2022 includes a number of new measures and interventions, for which the Agency is called upon to develop new software applications, but also to successfully complete the examination of the applications that will be submitted with the announcement of the new measures and interventions. The Agency is also required to adequately collect the data needed for the obligation of Cyprus to present an annual performance report (APR) from the year 2024, through which the European Commission will evaluate the targets set by the Republic of Cyprus.
The implementation of the AMS (Area Monitoring System), as now required by the European directives, will also be very important. I will not even mention the many and multi-dimensional requirements required by the European regulations and directives, on the basis of which the Agency is constantly called upon to adapt its procedures.
Problems have existed, exist and will continue to exist. Cypriot agriculture is based on the small farmer, who unfortunately has to compete with his European colleague under different and unequal conditions. The average amount of land held by the Cypriot applicant-farmer is close to five decares, while in Sweden, for example, as was said at the recent conference of Directors of Paying Agencies, it is 500 decares. If one also takes into account the morphology of the terrain of the Cypriot countryside, you can see how difficult it is for our farmers and livestock farmers to achieve competitive agriculture and livestock farming, since it is clearly difficult to create economies of scale. Therefore, it is extremely important to focus on the quality of the products produced, but also on the traditional products of Cyprus, which are excellent and can certainly have their place, after the appropriate certification, in the markets of Europe and beyond.
The effort to highlight the problems of a small European country is continuous by the Organization, but I am sure also by the relevant departments of the Ministry of Agriculture. The bureaucracy that is still unfortunately applied in the European Union sometimes creates enormous difficulties, especially when we are talking about small farmers. The administrative costs imposed are a multiple of the amount subsidised and this is a problem not only for Cyprus, but also for other Member States, especially in southern Europe.
I could talk for many hours about the real daily struggle of the Agency's staff to be able to respond fully to the increased needs, procedures, requirements and controls of the European Union, so that the Cypriot state is able to absorb 100% of the European funds allocated to it and make them available to the What matters is the result. And the result is that today Cyprus can boast that it has a modern, flexible and efficient Paying Agency, which I am sure that, as in the three previous programming periods, it will succeed in the New Programming Period 2023 - 2027 to maximize and improve agricultural production, drawing all the funds provided for.
At this point, I would like to stress the excellent cooperation between the Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment. You know very well, Minister, that you decide and we implement the decisions. I would like to congratulate both you and your predecessors for the vision and the implementation of strategic plans that raise Cypriot agriculture, livestock and agri-food processing to a higher level. I would also like to stress, and I am sure that you share this view, that despite the problems that the primary sector is facing today, its future is very promising. If one looks at the applications to the young farmers' programme, one can easily see the prospects that exist. As long as there is vision and a willingness to support, which I know at first hand that you have. You also know very well that our vision for the development of the primary sector can only be realised through the full cooperation of your Ministry and the Payments Agency. So a big thank you to all those who have helped the Agency to successfully walk this difficult path and to be at the level it is today. I thank the Government, the House of Representatives, but also the other state institutions, the parliamentary parties, the Minister, the Director General and the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment for their daily cooperation, the contractors of the CAP, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Forests, the Ministry of Energy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Interior, the Veterinary Services, the Managing Authority, the Advisory Committee, the Agricultural Organisations and the applicants of the CAP.
But today is a day of special honour and appreciation to the former Commissioners and Assistant Commissioners, but above all to the executives and staff of the CFCA, who have worked and continue to work conscientiously for the completion of the Agency's objectives. I would like to make special mention of the first Commissioner of the CFCA, Mr Kostas Petridis, whose interest and concern for the Agency continues to this day, and the current Assistant Commissioner, Mr Andreas Evangellou, with whom we face and resolve a number of challenges on a daily basis.
(AF/SX)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
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