Brussels, 21/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the time the agriculture ministers of the countries of the EU were meeting on Tuesday 20 March to debate the proposals of the European Commission on the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) for 2014-2020, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) was holding a conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the CAP. Although the president of the EESC, Staffan Nilson, stressed the EU's developments and progress in its agriculture policy over the last 50 years, he raised the issue of food “waste” despite the “enormous agricultural surplus” in Europe, pointing out that the number-one objective of agriculture is to “feed people” and that of the CAP to “reduce food insecurity”.
The Belgian agriculture minister, Sabine Laruelle, paid tribute to the fact that the CAP is the “only fully integrated supra-national policy today”, as its budget is based solely on exclusively European funding. Laruelle reiterated that the initial objectives of EU agricultural policy are still applicable today and that the reform must continue to steer the same course, one of “guaranteeing the security of food supply, ensuring decent income for farmers, protecting [farmers] from price volatility, promoting the innovation of agricultural tools and responding to environmental and climatic issues”, she said. Reacting to the Commission's proposal to apply a partial distribution of direct payments between the member states, Laruelle stated that “a fairer distribution does not mean equal between the farmers” of the various countries of the EU.
The “simplification” of the CAP reform, as envisaged by the Commission, came in for harsh criticism from the Polish minister for agriculture, Marek Sawicki, who takes the view that “transferring certain second-pillar obligations into the first pillar is not a simplification” (see EUROPE 10575). He stressed the need to promote concrete actions for young farmers and called for a focus on the real objectives of the CAP, rather than a “reform that is not a reform”. The Director General of DG Agriculture and Rural Development of the Commission, Jerzy Plewa, said that although he takes from the last 50 years of the CAP a “feeling of achievement”, “we need a feeling of continual development”. He argued that the CAP has already proved its merit in terms of the sustainable development of rural areas and needs to regenerate. “The CAP is a moving target, which means that we have to continue to adapt its objectives (…). That is the case for the enlargement of the EU and it is also the case for the CAP”, he concluded. (SD/transl.fl)