Brussels, 19/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 19 May in Brussels, at the conference of the future of the post-2013 CAP, Dacian Cioloº, the European commissioner for agriculture, declared: “The common agricultural policy will bring experience to European construction and the EUROPE 2020 strategy”. Other speakers specifically referred to recalibrating the CAP towards high quality products, measures for fighting price volatility and over-production, and border protection in an effort to ensure fair competition between imported and exported products.
Dacian Cioloº explained that the Commission had received almost 6,000 contributions to the public debate launched in April on the future of the post-2013 CAP. The commissioner added that “the Commission will analyse these messages and see what challenges they will mean for the CAP, as well as how to measure its legitimacy”. He mentioned certain elements that had to be taken into account: “European agriculture has to be maintained throughout the EU's territory”; “We are more open to the world than in the past and this will influence our choices”; “Our farming must produce food and help nourish European culture and identity”; “Farmers work with living matter, which influences everybody's quality of life; “The CAP has been nourishing the European project for 50 years and nourishes Europeans with quality food, in sufficient quantity and at affordable prices. And this is a responsibility included in the treaties”; “There are also the current priorities, the EUROPE 2020 strategy, for example, to which the CAP will bring fertile seeds to its well-tilled soils. The CAP has been able to accumulate experience and can contribute this to the future”.
Among the contributions received on the post-2013 future for the CAP, Cioloº noted that “citizens understand the necessity of a strong common policy focused on agriculture at the service of the whole of society”. He highlighted the four major themes: to describe the economic challenges, the most often used terms are: food safety, competitiveness, agricultural revenues, price volatility and insurance, the food chain and producer organisations. Environmental challenges: the debate demonstrated the importance people gave to “production of public goods” provided by farmers but which are often “badly rewarded by the markets”. There are also expectations with regard to climate change and criticism was made of agriculture that was “too intensive”. Citizens also illustrated the need to protect water, soils and biodiversity. The most often used terms for regional themes: employment, start-up aid (for farmers), local and traditional products. Finally, one theme often mentioned is quality and diversity of products.
Sabine Laruelle, the Belgian minister of agriculture and acting president of the Agriculture Council, said that the success of the consultation “demonstrated the interest the CAP represented to all farmers and citizens as a pillar in European construction”. She stated that the CAP represented “added value” and “beyond the legitimate concerns of this sector, such as stability and the level of farmers' incomes and prospects for young farmers, the future of the CAP affects all European citizens”.
The informal meeting of European agricultural ministers on 19-21 September in La Hulpe will mention the conclusions of this two day conference on the future of the CAP. Laruelle declared that “we will provide details on some of the points that may still give rise to different points of view and we will try and achieve as broad a consensus as possible””. The objective is to help the Commission finalise its communication on the future of the CAP, which is due to be presented at the November Council. She concluded that “EU27 agriculture contains incredible diversity and diversity is a resource that should be maintained and promoted. Farming forges part of national identity but it also has to be the reflection of the European identity and constructed whilst taking into account our specificities and particular situations, which make the European project so marvellous”.
Paolo De Castro, the president of the European Parliament's agriculture committee said that it was essential that they “build a modern CAP on the basis of future challenges”. He also affirmed that they had to enhance the role of the EU on the world scene, to preserve European agriculture's potential, take into account environmental concerns (fight against climate change and economies on water) and ensure the economic and social development of rural zones. The president of the agriculture committee explained that they had to be able to “evaluate the specificities of European food supplies”. The CAP should no longer be considered as a sectoral policy but as a policy “at the service of all European citizens”.
Kostas Stamoulis, Director, Agricultural Development Economics Division, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said that the CAP could play a key role in guaranteeing food safety beyond the borders of Europe. He called on the EU to: - maintain its production potential; - promote technology development in developing countries; - increase market access opportunities for developing countries; - contribute to the stability of world agricultural markets.
Joris Baeke, President of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), noted that only 7% of farmers were aged under 35, an “alarming” figure. He blamed the difficulties young people faced in accessing land and credit. He suggested inter alia that start-up aid for young farmers become compulsory in the new CAP and that the EU have a financial package for young people in the industry.
Marc Dufumier, Professor of Agriculture at the AgroParisTech (Institut des sciences et industries du vivant et de l'environnement) and member of the Nicolas Hulot Foundation, said that “the countries of the South should be allowed to do what Europe did with great success following the Second World War, and that is, protect its food agriculture in strategic products by means of hefty customs duties”. “If we feel that the countries of the South have the right to protect their food agriculture by sizeable customs duties, then we have to make sure our agriculture does not produce the standard surpluses on markets” such as powered milk and wheat for bread-making. He suggested that agriculture in the EU should move towards high quality products. Europe, he said, has to recover its independence in a key area, proteins. Europe has to tell the WTO that it will no longer engage in dumping with regard to the countries of the South, “but, in exchange, we call for the right to put customs duties on the import of our proteins,” he stated. The CAP must also be designed, Dufumier said, in such a way as to stop “unwanted migration” by poor farmers.
Francesco Mantino, Director at the INEA (Italian National Institute for Agricultural Economics), suggested that the two-pillar structure (the first relating to direct aid and market spending, and the second to rural development measures) of the CAP had to be reviewed. He said that there were overlaps that had to be sorted out. He highlighted, too, the need for rural development measures in which the environmental, social and economic dimensions were better integrated. He also called for increased possibilities in innovation and for better coordination between rural development schemes and: - national and regional policies in all of the EU countries; - the structural funds.
Aurélie Trouvé, Senior Lecturer at the CESAER Laboratoy (INRAAgroSupDijon) in France, said a greater distinction had to be drawn between aid for a farm and for a region, not on the basis of historic yields, but of the extra costs of production. Other aid, she said, could encourage greater development of “short circuits to promote the quality and diversity of regional farmers”. She suggested, too, that aid be capped according to the number of active farmers. She felt that the European rural development policy had to become a priority once more, articulating, not competing, with agricultural policies. She argued, also, for “action on prices”, which are often unstable and do not cover production costs. “If we want farmers to make a living from what they sell and not from aid, prices have to be set at sufficiently high levels. For this, there have to be effective safety nets related to the maximum quantities determined according to EU domestic outlets,” she noted, before calling also for protection mechanisms at the borders. (L.C./transl.rh/rt)