Brussels, 06/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - At their informal meeting in Athens on Tuesday 6 May, European agriculture ministers agreed on the need to preserve the diversity of European agriculture, and the common agriculture policy (CAP) has the tools needed to do this.
Athanasios Tsaftaris, Greek Minister of Rural Development and Food, stressed the Council's support for (optional) labels on produce from mountainous or island areas. The Greek Presidency of the Council highlighted that the EU imports many products, but that it is the largest exporter in the world (more than 23% of the world's exports of agricultural products). Decisions must also be made to attract young people into the agriculture sector. The new CAP recognises the importance of this diversity and lays down the flexibility to take account of specific national characteristics, the Greek minister stressed.
Dacian Ciolos, European Commissioner for Agriculture, started off by pointing out that diversity in agriculture was a “reality”, not a construct, due partly to the enlargement of the EU. This diversity in modes of producing and marketing has been “transferred” in the newly reformed common agriculture policy (CAP). The challenge is to use the instruments of the CAP to make this diversity into an asset, the commissioner said. The CAP does not pit short channels against industrial ones, or export channels against channels for the local European markets, Ciolos pointed out.
He retained four ideas to be taken into account in the future, following the European ministers' round-table discussion on the theme of diversity: - diversity and the agricultural performance of the EU must be managed positively, rather than restrictively (performance must be increased from a technological, economic and environmental point of view, but not at the expense of diversity, and the preservation of diversity must not make it impossible to increase performance); - innovation will have to play a vital role in improving performance and preserving the diversity of our agriculture; - we must not close Europe off from the rest of the world out of fear. The Commissioner said that we should “continue to open up in a non-defensive way, but offensively and positively”. The values (diversity, quality, safety) of European agriculture are increasingly appreciated, particularly in the so-called emerging countries; - diversity must not clash with the common spirit of the CAP. “We need to keep a common agriculture policy which is capable of highlighting this diversity. At the same time, shoring up the CAP must not push us into any standardisation of agricultural models”, Ciolos stressed. The flexibility granted to the countries and regions must not make the CAP overly complex, he concluded.
He went on to stress that the CAP offers instruments to enhance diversity. The countries of the EU have until August to notify the Commission of how they intend to use the leeway on the direct payments, amongst other things. There is a modulation of aid on the basis of specific regional natures, the structures of holdings and in order to take account of less-favoured areas and small farms.
Copa-Cogeca (the agricultural organisations of the EU) stressed the great diversity and quality of European agricultural products and pointed out that research and innovation were vital to preserve and develop these. (LC)