IPARD III Programme Measure 1: Contracting Progress and Ranking List Update

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management—the IPARD Managing Authority—and the Agency for Payments in Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries inform agricultural producers and the interested public about the further contracting of projects under the first public call for Measure 1, “Investments in Physical Assets of Agricultural Holdings.” The IPARD III public call was open from 29 [date incomplete]. A total of 694 applications were submitted, with a total requested support value of €48.33 million, of which €36.4 million represents the EU contribution. For applications found, following administrative checks, consideration of applicants’ statements and completion of the examination procedure, to meet the prescribed conditions, the evaluation process continued, including scoring and ranking according to the criteria applicable to the public call. At the same time, the possibility was opened of reallocating part of the funds from other accredited IPARD III measures to Measure 1, creating conditions for contracting a broader range of eligible investments that do not include the purchase of tractors. However, for applicants who retained the purchase of a tractor as part of their investment and whose applications, according to the established order, fall outside the currently available financial allocation, contracting is still not possible because insufficient funds are available to finance tractors. The next steps include continuing to contract eligible investments that do not include tractors; determining the final funds available for investments that include tractors; determining the group of applicants who, in accordance with the available funds and the order of eligible applications, may be offered contracts; and adopting and delivering the relevant individual decisions to applicants.