Brussels, 22/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - Subsidies for agriculture calculated per inhabitant are three times higher in the United States than in the EU, according to figures to be released by think tank momagri on Monday 25 June. Momagri's SGPA (Global Support to Agricultural Production) indicator reveals that subsidies of more than $172 billion were paid out in the US, compared with €76 billion in the EU. These figures equate to €422 per US inhabitant and €152 per European inhabitant, or 2.8 times more. This debunks the widespread view that European farmers are the most heavily subsidised. And the gap has been widening since 2008 (see EUROPE 10401 on the previous figures from momagri).
Momagri calls on European leaders to include in the new common agricultural policy (CAP) real regulation mechanisms that can stabilise agricultural prices and incomes while making Community spending more efficient. It notes that the EU has already virtually doubled its imports over the last ten years, and imports the equivalent of the produce of 35 million hectares of agricultural land, that is, an area the size of Germany. (LC/transl.rt)