Brussels, 22/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The presidents of COPA and COGECA warned, on Thursday 22 November, against the “unacceptable cuts” in farm spending proposed by the president of the European Council in the context of talks on the multiannual financial framework 2014-2020.
Gerd Sonnleitner, COPA President, pointed out that more and more farmers are going out of business due to high production costs not covered by market prices, and to poor weather conditions and extreme market volatility. “Farmers' incomes are half the average level of earnings in other sectors and food demand is on the increase. These latest proposals would result in huge cuts in direct payments to farmers of up to 30% in some countries which is totally unacceptable, and risks threatening food security and causing increased unemployment”, Sonnleitner said.
Christian Pèes, COGECA President, underlined that farm spending “which is less than 1% of EU public expenditure, has been falling continuously for many years whilst other countries like the US, China and Brazil are investing strongly in their agricultural sector to maintain competitiveness, economic growth and feed an increasing population”. Herman Van Rompuy's proposal would mean a further reduction in farm spending, which would be in addition to the cut proposed by the Commission (-10% in real terms). “This is not acceptable. EU agricultural spending must be kept at current levels until 2020, to ensure farmers and their cooperatives can continue to provide secure, safe food supplies to 500 million consumers”, Pèes said, hoping for a swift decision on the multiannual financial framework and the CAP. (LC/transl.jl)