Demands that need to be respected. European agricultural production and the way it is organised is important to humanity and the world and therefore needs to be maintained (see this column yesterday). Europe needs it for it for its food security and for protecting its natural environment, landscape and regional balance. The world needs it to help it tackle the risk of food shortages (in Africa but also elsewhere) and the deterioration in the global natural balance (in Brazil but also elsewhere). We have to be careful about what has been described as the illusion of abundance. Europe should obviously not reduce its agricultural imports but any revision of the CAP (common agricultural policy) has to take into account three principles:
- maintaining a sufficient level of production to prevent any risk of food shortages in Europe. The principle of food self-sufficiency must be the rule;
- obtaining a level of food production considered indispensable, whilst respecting product quality but also other requirements such as biodiversity, regional balance and respect for the natural landscape;
- ensuring that agreements with third countries and imports in general respect the two previous demands.
Misgivings on all sides. Does everyone agree on these three major principles? At first glance it may seem that this is the case but this would be a very superficial reading of the situation. If we look closer, we can see that each economic or social interest group agrees… except on the aspects that they find inconvenient. There are misgivings on all sides. The farmers themselves (tomorrow I will look at the specific issue of biodiversity); the food industry, whose primary concern is often supplying goods at the lowest costs, even if this means having to go very far to find these goods; the same goes for the distribution industry and big business, whether they are involved in import or export. The position of the industry in general always supports concessions being made to third countries, on the condition that they open up additional outlets for its exports. Finding a balance between these sometimes contradictory interests and defining the main priorities account for the main difficulties involved in the definition of the new CAP.
Trade problems. The most sensitive political aspect involves imports because the EU's trade policy as a whole is involved, particularly its relations with countries with which it enjoys amicable trade relations, such as Brazil and India, etc. European farmers are demanding that the following principle is respected: ensuring that imported products respect the same quality standards as those imposed on EU production. If the objective is consumer protection, it would be absurd to allow products into the EU that do not respect the same rules. This is entirely justifiable but it is difficult to put into practice in other continents. Third countries will claim that the rules of global trade and free competition mean that the EU should reduce its protection of European farming. Where can we locate the right balance between protecting farming in the EU (crucial, given the risks of global shortages) and protectionism?
According to Pascal Lamy, the head of the WTO (World Trade Organisation), European agriculture will remain fairly well protected even if the EU agrees to make certain concessions in the Doha Round. It is not the hypothetical success of these global negotiations that raises a number of misgivings or opposition from the European agricultural sector but the projects for bilateral agreements with certain specific third countries, especially Brazil (through Mercosur). EU farming organisations have explained that 25% of EU imports and 66% of animal feed imports already come from Mercosur. The agreement planned with this group will open the door to bovine and pork meats, poultry, oranges, maize and sugar (etc), which mainly come from Brazil. This would have a devastating impact on European farming and jobs in the country and in medium-sized cities. All this would have a detrimental impact on climate change in the world (the Amazonian jungle!) and on developing countries, particularly those in Africa.
The business community has explained that the EU-Mercosur agreement will have a beneficial impact on their exports. Our publication has reported on the studies carried out by Commission staff on some of the different aspects - the dangers to farming, and the prospects that exist for the industry and the service sector.
Other important and complex aspects relating to the new CAP will be discussed tomorrow.
(F.R./transl.fl)