Brussels, 22/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - At the COCERAL (European cereals, rice, feedstuffs, oilseeds, olive oil, oils and fats and agri-supply trade committee) seminar in Brussels on 21 June, European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloº suggested that a key factor for the future would be “our capacity to ensure better promotion of our products, not only on the EU market, but also at international level”. Thus, he has asked his officials to consider introducing a specific instrument to act more efficiently, for example, “an agency at European level which is in charge of promotion, provided with a specific budget”. He said “promotion should be given a new strong instrument at European level”.
The commissioner said, too, that many contributions to the public debate on the future of the CAP had demonstrated the importance the public gives to the range of products, quality and food safety. “The CAP must integrate these expectations,” he said, adding that, built into competitiveness, must be factors such as climate change, sustainable management of water, soil and biodiversity, and animal welfare.
Cioloº also indicated that new instruments, such as systems of insurance, could provide effective safety nets in some situations. The second pillar of the CAP (rural development), he said, had to make a stronger contribution to the modernisation of the food and agriculture sector through research and innovation. (L.C./transl.rt)