Brussels, 23/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 21 September, Copa (Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations) and Cogeca (General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives) urged EU agriculture ministers to “ensure there is a competitive EU agri-food sector and a strong CAP (common agricultural policy) after 2013, to prevent a complete collapse of the market”.
At the informal ministerial meeting just outside Brussels, Copa President Padraig Walshe sounded a warning: “I have heard rumours that the EU Commission is thinking about a significant shaping of Pillar 1 under the CAP to bring a much greater environmental focus into the policy. This is not acceptable and could seriously harm the economic performance and competitiveness of farming in the EU”. He also criticised the Commission decision to re-launch trade liberalising talks with Mercosur, a decision that will, he said, “have a devastating impact on the EU agriculture sector”. He called, inter alia, for: - a strong CAP, which preserves the economic role of farmers in producing food; - direct payments to farmers and market measures to be maintained after 2013.
Cogeca President Paolo Bruni stated that the food chain is currently not working properly. “The existing lack of transparency and the problems with late payments, market abuses and distortions of competition in the food supply chain cannot be accepted,” he said, calling for, “better prices” for farmers and agri-cooperatives, and changes in European competition rules “to enable cooperatives and producer organisations to grow in size and scale”, giving them more power in the food supply chain.
Walshe delivered a final word of warning: “We had a crisis in EU farm incomes in 2009. This year, we have experienced once again increased volatility and failures in international trade. Do we really have to wait for a complete collapse of the market for you to take notice?”
CEJA, the European Council of Young Farmers, also met Commission representatives and the current president of the Council, Belgian minister Sabine Laruelle. CEJA President Joris Baecke pointed out that it was the young generation which would implement the new CAP. He argued for a strong policy to help young farmers set up, which would include a guarantee on credits, reduced or guaranteed interest rates and accompanying measures for training and knowledge exchange. The Young Farmers' Council asked the EU to allow farmers to organise themselves in producers' organisations to agree on food prices with the other links in the food chain.
CEJA believes, too, that the new CAP must have a “stable, predictable” budget. It should also provide fairer reward for farmers CEJA says, opposed to the current historic model for direct payments. Baeke said that the CAP had to have a range of market measure tools to provide protection from extreme market volatility. CEJA supports the idea that some part of direct payments could be linked to the provision of public goods. It also calls on the EU to develop bio-energy production and put in place a protein plan to reduce EU dependence on imports.
European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Cioloº, speaking at the press conference on Tuesday 21 September, said that he had offered to work with the young farmers to “consider how best to introduce measures to support young farmers setting up in the new CAP”. In a period of crisis or post-crisis, it is essential to “reflect on the interest” there is for young people, from within and also outside the rural community, to become farmers, Cioloº said. He suggested that “the right instruments have to be found, since the future of European agriculture depends on it”. “I wouldn't like to run the risk of having a solid, strong CAP and to realise after a few years that there are no farmers to implement it,” the commissioner said, not ruling out the adoption of new CAP measures to help young farmers. (L.C./transl.rt)