Brussels, 16/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - Some 600 delegates from all over the EU will travel to Brussels on Monday and Tuesday of next week to discuss the future of the common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2013. This conference will, the Commission says, seek to “draw some form of conclusions from the public debate on the post-2013 launched by the Commission in April”. The exchanges will inform the Commission Communication on the future of the CAP, due to be published in November 2010.
The conference, at which Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Dacian Cioloº and Belgian Agriculture Minister Sabine Laruelle will speak, will start with a summary of contributions to the public debate, details of a new Eurobarometer study on citizens' attitude to the CAP, and then a round-table discussion with experts on the various issues raised. Monday afternoon will be spent in workshops on food security; the future of rural society; the environment and the provision by agriculture of public goods; and quality, diversity and health. The session on Tuesday morning, which will be chaired by DG AGRI Director-General Jean-Luc Demarty, will consider ideas raised in the workshops. Thereafter, there will be further workshops relating to maintaining food production capacity, maintaining the diversity of rural society, ensuring the provision of public goods by agriculture, and promoting quality & diversity of food supply. Tuesday afternoon will then seek to draw conclusions from the discussions. For more information, go to: http: //ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/conference/index_en.htm. (L.C./transl.rt)