Agriculture, in Sardinia there is the risk of “disengagement” of 150 million of EU funds
The Agricultural Studies Center is very harsh: «We are dramatically behind other Regions. An immediate change of direction is needed
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The situation of CAP and PSR payments in Sardinia is now out of control . The Centro Studi Agricoli denounces it, "for years an independent voice in defense of Sardinian farmers". The CSA strongly denounces in a press release " a disastrous management that risks irreversibly compromising the future of the regional agricultural sector . It is time to tell things as they are, without mincing words: Sardinia is on the brink of the risk of having to repay funds like never before in its history. Since 2020, Sardinia", writes the president of the Centro Studi Agricoli, Tore Piana, "has started its paying agency Argea OP which has immediately highlighted important critical issues: consider that for the first checks and for the formulation of the lists of agricultural companies that submit an annual application, Argea has had to entrust the management of the practices to an external national company, Leonardo Spa, paying millions of euros per year for the service, rather than managing it independently, as well as the software system that is rented from Agea nazionale. Here too, behind the payment of a fee of about 1 million per year. All this», adds Piana, «makes Argea not autonomous and independent, causing delays in the management of PA payments».
CAP payments – On the single application 2023/2024, on the first pillar there are still 53 million to be paid by 30 June . «We are dramatically behind the other regions». On the second pillar there are over 50 million euros to be paid for key measures such as animal welfare, organic, compensatory allowance, soil protection.
Emergency PSR 2014-2022 funds: 843 million at risk – This is the most alarming part of the situation: the funds fall under the “N+3” rule , and must be spent or at least committed by 31 December 2025. To date, the state of the art is dramatic: over 100 million euros risk being returned to the EU due to management incompetence and culpable delay . Applications submitted in 2017 are being decreed. “An absurdity, a scandal,” Piana underlines.
«After 11 years from the beginning of the 2024/2022 programming cycle, we are facing an administrative debacle that, if not contained immediately, will lead to a disengagement of funds never seen before in the history of Sardinian autonomy».
Operational proposals - " We have presented a proposal for the reorganization of agricultural agencies, but - in the best case scenario - it will be operational in 12 months, too late to avoid the disasters underway. Argea is not the only one bearing the burden of this disaster. The responsibilities fall equally on the regional Department of Agriculture. Councilor Satta is guiltily calm, while the agricultural sector collapses under the weight of inefficiency". "To date", adds Tore Piana, "no concrete action has been taken to: strengthen Argea's staff, streamline procedures, approve extraordinary payments, agreements with external professionals, formulate clear, simplified and well-structured calls for tenders".
The final appeal – «On behalf of hundreds of Sardinian farmers, the Centro Studi Agricoli denounces the imminent danger of failure of regional agricultural planning, and with it the collapse of trust in Sardinian institutions, the loss of millions of euros intended for the development of our countryside, the concrete risk of unemployment and rural abandonment. If we do not change course between June and December 2025, Sardinia will have to return over 150 million euros to the European Union. This», concludes Tore Piana, «is unacceptable. We need a radical change today, not in a year».
(Online Union)
