Brussels, 23/12/2009 (Agence Europe) - Dacian Cioloº, the European commissioner designate who will take over the Agriculture and Rural Development portfolio, believes that the common agricultural policy (CAP) "should remain a strong common policy" which should be "modern and Community". He also promised to be "vigilant" in negotiations at the WTO on the liberalisation of trade, whilst taking care to ensure that the agreement to be concluded after the Doha Round respects the sensitive nature of European agriculture. The hearing of Dacian Cioloº for the members of the committee on agriculture of the European Parliament will be held on Friday 15 January, from 9am to 12pm.
In his responses to the questionnaire the members of the EP agriculture committee sent to him in advance of the hearing, he explains that with an EU extended to 27 countries, "European agriculture and its rural area have gained a great deal of diversity". This diversity must be included in future proposals of the Commission, said the future commissioner. He continued: "The CAP must continue to be reformed in order to take account of the new realities of agriculture and rural space in Europe". He intends to propose a reform for post-2013 which must include "three major priorities": - 1) Greater development of sustainable agriculture throughout the EU. There must still be "direct payments to farmers". There must be discussions of certain subjects: - the remuneration for certain base public goods in combination with aid conditionality measures; - conditions for the distribution of direct aid (a rebalance at the level of the various categories of farmers and at member state level). The former Romanian agriculture minister called for a "strong and well-balanced" CAP after 2013. - 2) The effective organisation of agricultural production towards the market, together with mechanisms to ensure a sufficient degree of security for farmers in crisis situation. "We must take better account of the greater volatility on the agricultural markets", wrote the commissioner designate, who believes that it is vital to have sufficiently effective "safety nets" in place to ensure that "the stability of entire sections of our agriculture is not irreversibly affected". The crisis in the dairy sector has demonstrated the need to set in place "modern, efficient and reactive" mechanisms to provide agriculture and the agro-food industry with a sufficient degree of security. - 3) A reinforced rural development policy. This must support the development of rural wealth in economic, social and environmental terms and ensure the modernisation of the agriculture of the European regions, "in line with the competitive pressure of the market, the requirements of consumers and taxpayers and the expectations of the citizens in terms of quality of life and the rural environment".
To sum up: with a reformed CAP, the European Union "must ensure a sustainable production of goods, make a contribution to social cohesion, provide effective crisis management and help to create a multi-polar world which is capable of developing local agricultural and rural economies", said Dacian Cioloº.
The extension of the ordinary legislative procedure to the CAP, which was brought in by the Lisbon Treaty, "to me means equal treatment in my relations with all institutions involved in the decision-making process", said the agriculture commissioner designate. He promised the EP that he would be a "partner open to constructive political dialogue, based on mutual trust, transparency and the exchange of information".
On top of the work on the future of the CAP post-2013 ("a long-haul job"), the commissioner designate plans to present proposals on the promotion, labelling of and quality signs for agricultural products. He intends to follow the development of prices of food products and the situation in the dairy sector (including conclusions and proposals from the high-level group). His other priorities include: - climate change and resources made available to farmers to adapt and to bring down their carbon emissions; the rapid conclusion of "a well-balanced agreement" on the agriculture details in the Doha Round, "whilst carefully respecting the sensitivities of European agriculture"; - continuing to simplify the CAP. (L.C./transl.fl)