Common agricultural policy CAP: information measures (Regulation (EC) No 1258/99)

The Commission presents a report concerning the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 for the period 2011–2012. It is recalled that Actions fall into two main categories:

• those submitted by third party organisations for co-financing by EAGF (grants);
• those at the initiative of the Commission and financed at a rate of 100% by EAGF ("direct actions").

Budget: the budget made available for information measures under budget line 05 08 06 was EUR 8 million for 2011 and EUR 8 million for 2012. The breakdown between actions to be taken at the initiative of the Commission and actions to be co-financed (grants) was as follows:

• 2011: direct actions (EUR 4.5 million) (56%) – Grants (EUR 3.5 million) (44%);
• 2012: direct actions (EUR 5.8 million) (72%) – Grants (EUR 2.2 million ) (28%).

Execution of the budget reached 100% for 2011 and 99% for 2012, in terms of commitments.

Grants (communication actions taken at the initiative of third party organisations): whilst the Regulation envisages two kinds of measures, specific information measures and annual work programmes, for 2011 and 2012, it was decided (as in the three previous years) to retain only specific information measures for co-financing in the annual call for proposals for those years, with the aim of simplifying the grants scheme and ensuring coherence between the different communication actions.

The maximum financing rate is 50% of eligible costs. However, the rate may be increased up to 75% in exceptional cases. For 2011, it was decided to retain 50% as the maximum financing rate for the co-financed actions. For 2012, the call for proposals provided for the maximum rate of 75% for information measures of exceptional interest. However, as no proposal met the criteria laid down for such exceptional measures, no action was awarded a financing rate of 75% for 2012.

Under the 2011 call for proposals, 44 specific actions were co-financed (two more actions were selected by the Commission but abandoned during the implementation phase by the grant beneficiaries). The amount of grants to be requested from the Commission was between EUR 20,000 and EUR 300,000.

Under the 2012 call for proposals, 11 specific actions were co-financed (one more action was selected but abandoned during the year). It is to be noted that the call for proposals for 2012 was designed to give priority to innovative and creative measures likely to have a major impact across several countries. Thus, for 2012, applicants were invited to apply for grants between EUR 100,000 and EUR 500,000; consequently, a smaller number of bigger actions were cofinanced for that year.

Overall therefore, in the reporting period, a total of 55 actions were co-financed.

The types of grants beneficiaries were principally as follows: professional farm organisations (25.4%), other non-governmental organisations/associations (20.6%), public administrations (local, regional, and national authorities) (23.8%), and media organisations (30.2%).

As in the past, socio-professional organisations active in agriculture and rural development at national level (often members of EU level bodies) figured prominently among the lists of beneficiaries. In addition, inter alia, media organisations - especially the audio-visual sector - increased their participation. In several co-financed actions, beneficiaries made use of the possibility to involve further organisations as partners in the execution of the projects, for example, in the actions implemented by media organisations, frequently farm organisations or other types of associations/NGO were partners or co-organisers.

In the reporting period, the number of successful grant applications from the EU12 Member States continued to increase; 37.3% of the total number of grants awarded in 2011 and 2012 were allocated to organisations in those countries. There continued, as in the past, to be a strong level of interest from the southern part of the EU.

Communication actions taken at the initiative of the Commission: In the reporting period, as in previous years, an important number of communication actions (participation at fairs, conferences, publications, website, opinion polls, visits, media actions) were carried out at the initiative of the Commission. These were often implemented with external technical assistance. Some 64% of the budget was allocated for these measures in the 2011-2012 period.

Communication campaigns on major issues: in the period under review, efforts were continued to improve understanding of the common agricultural policy and rural development by the stakeholders and the general public, through specific communication campaigns. For example, the adoption by the Commission of the legislative proposals on the reform of the CAP in October 2011 was accompanied by press and stakeholder briefings in all EU 27 Member States.

Another important action was the media campaign organised in the aftermath of the e-coli crisis in 2011 so as to demonstrate the Commission's support for producers' efforts in resuming consumer confidence in, and consumption of, fruit and vegetables.

The theme of the fiftieth anniversary of the entry into force of the common agricultural policy figured prominently in information actions in 2012.