The Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, advances from today, October 16, and until November 30, 456.8 million euros to the paying agencies of Castilla-La Mancha that have requested funds to make the payment of advances to the beneficiaries of the direct aid of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), corresponding to the aid applications presented in 2024.
In total, the Ministry advances 2,601 million euros for 14 beneficiary autonomous communities. The payment of the advance is a voluntary option for the paying agencies, so it is up to the competent authorities of the CCAA to decide whether or not to anticipate the payment, as well as the time of making it and the lines of aid to be paid among those provided for in the national regulations. It must be borne in mind that prior checks must be carried out to ensure the proper use of European Union funds.
The European Commission has authorised the payment of up to 70% of the amount of direct aid in the form of an advance, in order to provide greater liquidity to farmers and livestock farmers in the Union at the start of the agricultural campaign and to help them cope with the impact of the current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East and adverse weather conditions in different areas.
The ordinary deadline for payments of direct aid will begin on December 1, from which the different autonomous communities will be able to pay up to 90% of the amount. The payment of 100% of the aid will be authorized from 1 May 2025, once the final unit amounts have been calculated. This regular deadline will end on 30 June, although residual payments may be made until 15 October, the date on which the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) ends its financial year and on which the EUR 4,882 million in direct aid to the sector will have been paid.
The autonomous communities that participate in the system of prefinancing the CAP funds, coordinated by the Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA), have communicated their estimates of advance payment of slightly more than 2.6 billion euros; and foresee that in the second half of October around 1.8 billion euros can be paid.
The EAGGF publishes on its website the data of the funds that each autonomous community requests weekly to make these payments, which can be consulted in the section “Open Data: Prefinancing” Prefinancing EAGF funds on its website. The agency also publishes the payments finally made weekly in the section “Weekly payments FEAGA 2023-2027.
DIRECT PAYMENT INTERVENTIONS THAT CAN BE ANTICIPATED
The direct aid interventions for which advances can be paid in 2024 are as follows:
Basic Income Support for Sustainability and its complementary payments (redistributive payment and payment to young people)
Ecoregimes
Associated aid (with the exception of the associated aid for the fattening of calves and the specific payment for cotton, which may be paid from 1 December)