Following the Agenda 2000 mid-term review, I have decided that all direct payments will be fully decoupled from production as and from 1 January 2005.
With effect from 2005, the decoupled payment, known as the single payment scheme is to be based on the average number of animals or the average number of hectares in the case of arable aid on which payments were made under the livestock premia and arable aid schemes in respect of the three reference years 2000, 2001 and 2002. The single payment is calculated by taking the three yearly average number of animals-arable hectares which attracted payment and multiplying them by the payment rate for 2002 in respect of livestock or by €383.04 per hectare in the case of arable aid. Entitlements are established by dividing this single payment amount by the average number of hectares over the three year period.
The late husband of the person will have entitlements established in his name as a result of his application for the special beef premium in 2000 and slaughter premium in 2000 and 2001. However, as he is now deceased and as the farm is let for five years, the person may not be in a position to activate those entitlements in 2005.
The person named could lease in or purchase the equivalent number of hectares of land prior to 2005 and submit an area aid application in respect of that land in 2005 to enable her to activate those entitlements. If those entitlements are not activated in 2005, they will revert to the national reserve. However, she may be allowed to apply for those entitlements from the national reserve when the lease of her land expires.
As the detailed rules governing the allocation of entitlements from the national reserve are not yet available, it is not possible to say what the criteria will be for determining the eligibility of any applicant to the national reserve. It is expected that those detailed rules will be available in early 2004.