Scottish government 'focused' on CAP farm payment deadline
The Scottish government is "extremely focused" on trying to make EU farming payments before next week's deadline, the first minister has said.
But Nicola Sturgeon would not confirm whether the government had asked, or planned to ask, for an extension.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson claimed it could therefore be assumed the answer was "yes".
European subsidies to farmers through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be processed by 30 June.
The deadline was extended to October last year after problems with the Scottish government's new £178m IT system caused delays to payments which left many Scottish farmers facing a cash flow crisis, according to industry leaders.
Ms Sturgeon was pressed on this year's payments by Ms Davidson at first minister's questions.
The first minister said: "The government is extremely focused, led by (Rural Economy Secretary) Fergus Ewing, on making sure that payments are made, and that in the meantime there is a loan scheme available for farmers to ensure that we are taking care of their cash flow issues.
"We will endeavour to make payments on time, and we will continue to discuss with the European Commission any contingency arrangements we consider are required.
"Good progress has been made on making payments, both in terms of the 2015 round and also now in terms of the 2016 round."
What are the CAP payments?
Reforms to the CAP system saw the Single Farm Payment Scheme replaced by the new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in 2015.
The BPS is the main EU subsidy available to farmers in Scotland, with the money being allocated by the Scottish government.
The payments are designed to act as a safety net for farmers and crofters by supplementing their main business income.
19,674 different Scottish rural businesses received a total of about £650m in CAP payments last year.
Ms Sturgeon said the government had been dealing with a "small number of known defects" that had been holding up some claims, but said there were now being progressed.
The first minister added: "We are working to meet that deadline and we will continue to do so each and every day until that deadline."
But Ms Davidson said Ms Sturgeon had refused to answer her question about whether the government was going to need an extension to the deadline this year, so it could therefore be "assumed that the answer is yes".
Ms Davidson said 6,000 applications were still to be processed - about a third of the total for Scotland.
'Rectify and problems'
She said: "At the start of the year Nicola Sturgeon spoke directly to farmers at the National Farmers Union conference, and she said 'we understand the difficulties that late payments caused to you last year, we apologise for those difficulties and we are determined not to repeat them'.
"Another promise broken, why should rural Scotland ever trust you again?"
Ms Sturgeon responded: "We continue to deliver this scheme, and we continue to seek to deliver it by the deadlines.
"What we have done - which was a commitment I have directly to farmers - is put in place loan schemes so that farmers did get the cash that they depend on.
"So we will continue to deliver this scheme, we will continue to work hard to rectify any problems in the IT system and we will also continue to argue for the protection of CAP payments in the longer term."
The Scottish government had been facing fines of between £40m and £125m for failing to meet last year's payments deadline, but the EU ultimately agreed to extend it.
At the time, it was stressed by the EU's commissioner for agriculture, Phil Hogan, that the extension was an "exceptional measure" which reflected the difficulties some member states and devolved regions had experienced with the first year of payments under the new CAP.