Brussels, 14/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Committee of the Regions (CoR) President Mercedes Bresso announced on Thursday 13 October that she was “not satisfied” with the proposals from the European Commission on the future of the common agricultural policy (CAP). She nevertheless welcomed the conditionality associated with the payment of aid for environmentally-friendly farming practices.
“This is a healthy development which will bolster the CAP's move to take more account of environmental factors, as called for by the Committee of the Regions”, Bresso stated. She expressed regret, however, at the timidity of the proposals on redistribution of aid which, she said, “go nowhere near to securing the fairness between regions and farms” so sought by the CoR. She was also disappointed at the overly broad definition of active farmers.
René Souchon (PES, France), President of Auvergne Regional Council and CoR rapporteur on the CAP, stressed the importance of a degressive scale for, and ceilings on, aid. However, he recommended reducing the thresholds proposed by the Commission so as to free up more funds to help small farms and less developed regions. He expressed his satisfaction that the CoR proposal to help farmers in less developed and mountainous regions had been taken on board.
The Commission's “lack of will” on the issue of market regulation was raised by Bresso. “Without regulation, the most vulnerable regions are over-exposed to the ups and downs of the markets”, she argued.
The CoR will seek to bring all its weight to bear to ensure that rural development plans are genuine partnership contracts where local and regional authorities are closely involved from the outset right through to implementation. (LC/transl.rt)