In accordance with Article 20(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, Croatia has notified the Commission by 31 January 2015 of the areas identified in accordance with Article 57a(10) of Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 which were returned to use for agricultural activities in the calendar year 2014. That notification also included the number of payment entitlements available to farmers on 31 December 2014 as well as the amount remained unspent in the special de-mining reserve on that date.

In accordance with Article 20(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the Commission has calculated subsequently the amounts to be added for calendar years 2015 onwards to the amounts of national ceilings set out in Annex II to that Regulation in order to finance the support to be granted for the de-mined areas under the schemes listed in Annex I to that Regulation. This increment, which has been added by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/851 to the national ceiling of Croatia set in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 is 700 000 EUR in 2015.

In accordance with Article 20(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the Commission has to set the share to be applied to this increment, with a view to including the resulting amount in the special de-mining reserve for the purpose of allocating payment entitlements for the de-mined areas. That share has to be calculated on the basis of the ratio between the ceiling for the basic payment scheme for 2015 and the national ceiling for that year set out in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 and without taking into account the increment added by Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/851.

For each Member State implementing the basic payment scheme provided for in Chapter 1 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the annual national ceiling referred to in Article 22(1) of that Regulation for 2015 has to be set by the Commission by deducting from the annual national ceiling set out in Annex II to that Regulation the ceilings fixed in accordance with Articles 42, 47, 49, 51 and 53 of that Regulation. In accordance with Article 22(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 any increases applied by Member States pursuant to that provision are to be taken into account.

For each Member State implementing the single area payment scheme provided for in Chapter 1 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the annual national ceiling referred to in Article 36(4) of that Regulation for 2015 has to be set by the Commission by deducting from the annual national ceiling set out in Annex II to that Regulation the ceilings fixed in accordance with Articles 42, 47, 49, 51 and 53 of that Regulation.

For each Member State granting the redistributive payment provided for in Chapter 2 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the annual national ceiling referred to in Article 42(2) of that Regulation for 2015 has to be set by the Commission on the basis of the percentage notified by those Member States pursuant to Article 42(1) of that Regulation.

In relation to the payment for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the environment provided for in Chapter 3 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 in 2015, the annual national ceilings referred to in Article 47(3) of that Regulation for 2015 have to be calculated in accordance with Article 47(1) of that Regulation and amount to 30 % of the national ceiling of the relevant Member State as set out in Annex II to that Regulation.

For Member States granting the payment for areas with natural constraints provided for in Chapter 4 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the annual national ceilings referred to in Article 49(2) of that Regulation for 2015 have to be set by the Commission on the basis of the percentage notified by the relevant Member States pursuant to Article 49(1) of that Regulation.

In relation to the payment for young farmers provided for in Chapter 5 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, the annual national ceilings referred to in Article 51(4) of that Regulation for 2015 have to be set by the Commission on the basis of the percentage notified by Member States pursuant to Article 51(1) of that Regulation and on the basis of the maximum of 2 % laid down in the same provision.

Where the total amount of the payment for young farmers applied for in 2015 in a Member State exceeds the ceiling set pursuant to Article 51(4) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 for that Member State, the difference has to be financed by the Member State in accordance with Article 51(2) of that Regulation whilst respecting the maximum amount laid down in Article 51(1) of that Regulation. For the sake of clarity, it is appropriate to set this maximum amount for each Member State.

For each Member State granting voluntary coupled support provided for in Chapter 1 of Title IV of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 in 2015, the Commission has to set the annual national ceiling referred to in Article 53(7) of that Regulation for 2015 on the basis of the percentage notified by the relevant Member State pursuant to Article 54(1) of that Regulation.

Concerning the year 2015, the implementation of direct support schemes provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 started on 1 January 2015. For the sake of consistency between the applicability of that Regulation for the claim year 2015 and the applicability of the corresponding budgetary ceilings, this Regulation should apply from the same date.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for Direct Payments,