Prague - Czech farmers will have to comply with a doubled number of control points.
They will be in a worse position than their colleagues in the rest of the EU, since Brussels doesn't urge member states to perform controls with such intensity.
In February, the EU has approved a set of "good farming" principles that exists within the framework of the so-called Cross Compliance.
Starting with 2009, the CzechRepublic will have to obey these measures too. Controls have been carried out in the past, but agricultural facilities could only face paying fines. Now, farmers that will be found ignoring the standards will risk being deprived of EU structural funds.
The EU regulations seek to put in place the same conditions for Czech farmers as for those in the original EU15 countries.
Unnecessarily strict
"However, only 100 items are controlled on average in these countries, while in our country it is roughly 180. And I don't see any reason for controls being more intensive in the Czech Republic," explained Josef Stehlík, a private farmer and one of the advisors to the Minister of Agriculture.
The president of the Agricultural Board, Jiří Papež, is not happy about the high number of control points either.
"EU legislation doesn't set any number, it only asks for the concrete goal to be reached, which is a general adherence to the principles. So I think it's important to focus on lowering the number of necessary points so the EU structural grants continue to be distributed, but, at the same time, so that Czech farmers are not pressured by the controls more than it is normal in the EU," said Papež.
Papež believes the massive increase in control points results from the controllers' attempts to get more state funding for the administration of control procedures.
"It all depends"
According to Zbyněk Semerád from the State Veterinary Administration (SVS), the higher number of control points doesn't necessarily mean stricter control standards though.
"It all depends on how broadly a control point is defined. There can be a lower number of control points with each one covering several issues, or on the contrary there can be a higher number of control points with each one covering only one issue," explained Semerád.
The SVS is one of the agents that will observe the implementation of the Cross Compliance.
"What makes the difference is what criteria will be established as being directly related to good farming practices," explained Semerád.
Discrimination
However, farmers don't believe the explanations of the supervisory organs and see the number of control points as one of many discriminating tactics the Czech agricultural sector is forced to face.
"Every single control point that is not asked by the EU directives is another bureaucratic burden added to a pile of already complicated administrative obligations and, in many cases, it brings additional financial costs. We say yes to controls aimed at better environmental farming, but only provided their rates and necessity are rationally evaluated and that they are in accord with the EU in a way that our own agricultural sector is not disadvantaged," stressed Jiří Felčárek from the Czech Chamber of Agriculture.
He also reminded of the Minister of Agriculture repeated promises that the administrative burden imposed on agricultural enterprises will be eased. The EU has already set itself the same goal, he added.
