Brussels, 08/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 8 July in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted the report by British Liberal George Lyon in favour of maintaining a strong post-2013 common agricultural policy (CAP), which is in favour of a fairer distribution of direct aid, creating permanent crisis-management tools and avoiding overproduction. Finally, MEPs called for the two current pillars of the CAP to be maintained (the first involves marketing and income support and the second involves rural development).
During the plenary debate, a few hours before the vote, rapporteur Lyon explained that one of the main challenges was to find resources for feeding a continually increasing population (according to the FAO, by 2050 food requirements will be twice as great) by taking into account the following context: it will be necessary to produce food with less energy, less arable land and less water. Lyon highlighted the importance of developing biogas, second-generation biofuels and wind turbines, which would enable farmers to diversify. He also argued for a fairer CAP in the way it distributed direct payments. He suggested that by 2020 they should put an end to the customary way in which payment is made because they had to take into account market volatility and remain on their guard. He concluded that they needed risk insurance for the futures markets and a specific reserve for crisis management. However, the MEP rejected any U-turn towards the way they managed markets in the past and said that they had already tried this and it had not worked.
“Sensible” Orientation towards market whilst avoiding “chaotic markets”
Dacian Cioloº, the European commissioner for agriculture, said that it was important to “better adapt our common agricultural policy to citizens' expectations and go beyond the traditional objectives of ensuring the security of market supply”. The commissioner noted that the EP was advocating measures to improve the way in which the food chain functioned, as well as a balance between the different actors and the transparency of producers' negotiating powers. The commissioner pointed out that “these are the elements that will be reflected in reform of the CAP”. He also noted the demands made by the EP on the future of direct payments - namely the elaboration of an instrument to ensure income stability and encourage farmers to provide goods to the public.
The EP is also suggesting that direct payment distribution criteria be revised “to ensure greater fairness in the distribution between the different countries, regions and categories of farmers, whilst taking into account the specificity of farmers in poor regions and difficult zones”, explained the commissioner. Mr Cioloº also stated that the direction of the CAP still needed to be geared towards the market but in a sensible way “to avoid farmers finding themselves in a situation where the markets are very chaotic”. According to the commissioner, the orientation towards the market is compatible with improved market management mechanisms and “ensuring that the market functions correctly and that agriculture throughout Europe is done in a way that promotes diversity and allows our farmers to express themselves”.
At the end of the debate Cioloº said that the post-2013 CAP budget “should be in relation to the objectives of the EU as set out for this agriculture” and must therefore be “realistic”.
A “stronger” post-2013 CAP. The EP considers that “a strong and sustainable European common agricultural policy is needed to serve the interests of all European farmers and deliver wider benefits to society”. He considers that new ways of attracting young people should be explored, such as availability of favourable loans and credit for investments. The commissioner also considers that, in the case of some agricultural sectors which require substantial capital investment over the course of multiannual cycles of production of milk, citrus fruits, wine, olives and fruit in general, new supply management methods need to be introduced.
Public goods. MEPs stress that food is the most important public good produced by agriculture; recognise that farmers deliver a range of public goods which the market does not reward them for; therefore insist that they must be fairly rewarded and further incentivised to continue delivering safe and higher-quality products, better animal welfare conditions and additional environmental benefits, in addition to creating more jobs, in order to preserve the countryside throughout Europe. The EP emphasises that that the cross-compliance system makes the granting of direct aid subject to compliance with statutory requirements and the maintenance of farmland in good agricultural and environmental condition but calls for the administrative burden on farmers to be reduced through a simplified implementation system for cross-compliance requirements.
The EP believes, in line with the latest research available, that without a common agricultural policy and good agricultural practice, unsustainable modes of production would develop across the EU (extreme intensification on the best land and widespread land abandonment in disadvantaged areas), causing serious damage to the environment.
A fair CAP. The EP believes that there have to be flexible and efficient market measures to ensure an adequate safety net within the future framework of the CAP in order to avoid extreme market price volatility, provide a greater degree of stability, and provide rapid and efficient responses to economic crises arising in the sector. It takes the view that this should be complemented by a risk management system that helps minimise the consequences of natural and health disasters.
The EP also takes the view that, in order to enable the market to be managed more efficiently and to avoid overproduction crises, the specific instruments for the management of production potential which are available in some sectors should be retained, based on the principles of fairness and non-discrimination.
The EP considers that reducing direct payments under the first pillar would have devastating consequences, not only for farmers but for consumers and for society.
A sustainable CAP. According to the EP, agriculture has a leading role to play in tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing carbon sequestration capacity and developing and using more renewable energy sources and bio-based materials. It believes that climate considerations should be integrated across CAP measures where appropriate.
MEPs believe that safeguards need to be introduced to ensure that biotechnology can continue to be used in agriculture without impacting on existing production methods.
Applying a fair, green and sustainable CAP. The EP explains that in order to fully respond to the new challenges and deliver the priorities of a reformed CAP, it is calling for the amounts allocated to the CAP in the 2013 budget to be at least maintained during the next financial programming period. It calls for the CAP budget to have an end-of-year flexibility mechanism in order to carry over and reallocate under-spends in the following year.
MEPs are calling for a fair distribution of CAP funds to farmers across the EU. Distribution of aid. They also call on the Commission to propose additional objective criteria, taking into account the complexity of the agricultural sector and the differences between member states, in order to achieve a more balanced distribution.
The EP believes that direct support should move to an area basis in all member states within the next financial programming period. It is also of the opinion that member states or regions must “continue to be able to regionalise their surface payment systems according to their specific priorities, whilst respecting fair competition in the internal market”.
The EP considers that there should be no return to coupled payments as a guiding principle of the CAP. Nevertheless, it considers that an adequate margin for flexibility should be left to member states, to prevent production from stopping completely or the diversity of farming from being reduced. It takes the view that this margin for manoeuvre would take the form of capped coupled payments for vulnerable agriculture sectors and territories and environmentally sensitive areas.
Sustainability. The EP believes that an EU-funded top-up payment should be made available to farmers through simple multiannual contracts rewarding them for reducing their carbon emissions per unit of production and/or increasing their sequestration of carbon in the soil through sustainable production methods and through the production of biomass that can be used in the production of long-lasting agro-materials.
Green growth. The EP believes that to underpin the key building blocks of the CAP, an adequate safety net should still be available. It takes the view that this safety net should be sufficiently flexible to take account of market developments, and include tools such as public and private storage, intervention and market clearance, which should be activated when required to combat extreme volatility and as a rapid reaction tool in the event of crises. To that end, the EP considers that a special reserve budget line should be made available in the EU budget which could be activated rapidly to respond to crises which arise.
The European Parliament ultimately recalls that export refunds should continue to be phased out in the EU, in parallel with similar measures being taken by WTO partners. (L.C./transl.fl)