Brussels, 28/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Committee of the Regions (CoR), taking the view that common agricultural policy (CAP) reform does not go far enough, will not simply accept the Commission proposals. The CoR refined its position, suggesting lowering the threshold for triggering the capping of aid for large farms and retaining some coupled aid, at a meeting of its natural resources commission (NAT) on Monday 26 March. This draft opinion, and also the one on the reform of the common fisheries policy (CFP), which came out against a European system of individual transferable quotas, still has to be debated and adopted by all CoR members at their spring plenary session.
CAP: flexible greening, degression, retention of coupling. René Souchon (PES, France) was a harsh judge of Commission's CAP proposals which “are still far from an in-depth reform” and even took the view that the measures proposed to regulate markets were “disappointing”. He did not shy away from suggesting that degression thresholds be lowered to €100,000, rather than the €150,000 advocated by the Commission, with a ceiling of €200,000 per farm, and not the €300,000 proposed by the Commission. Souchon argued that some coupling of aid for certain crops or vulnerable regions be retained so that a reasonable level of production can be maintained. The CoR called for greater flexibility on the greening of CAP aid. The 7% of land that the Commission says should be “ecological focus areas” is too much in some instances. This percentage should be determined by regional authorities in line with the local situation and conditions, Souchon believes.
Fisheries. The draft opinion by Mieczyslaw Struk (EPP, Poland) was also discussed at the NAT meeting and drew positive comments on the Commission's proposals on fisheries, particularly with regard to long-term management of fish stocks and monitoring the discarding of fish at sea. Where Struk was most critical was on individual transferable concessions. He expressed the wish that transferable quotas should not be rolled out and made compulsory across the EU but that individual EU countries be able to choose the way they wish fishing rights to be allocated.
These two opinions will be debated and put to the vote at the next CoR plenary session in Brussels on 2-4 May. (MD/transl.rt)