Brussels, 18/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 18 July, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) of the European Commission finalised the review of the composition of the civil dialogue groups dealing with matters covered by the common agricultural policy, such as environment and climate change, animal products, organic farming, forest and quality and promotion (http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/civil-dialogue-groups/decision-composition_en.pdf ).
Civil dialogue groups provide an important forum for consultation, providing high-level input from a wide range of sources and stakeholders, in the form of opinions, recommendations and reports, complementing other sources, consultations and in-house expertise of the European Commission. DG AGRI is fully committed to intensifying the debate with the citizens through civil dialogue groups and in other fora.
Following a transparent and open call for applications launched on 1 April 2014, 103 organisations applied for membership of the civil dialogue groups for EU-wide non-governmental organisations. The Commission's decision confirms that 68 of the applications have been approved as eligible. In comparison with the previous situation, 43 new organisations are being recognised as full members of the civil dialogue groups run by DG AGRI. The Commission hopes that this will strengthen the expertise, diversity of voices, the balance of the different representatives in the group and their ability to provide the Commission with valuable advice on the future development of the CAP and its management. It will improve the quality of the debate with a wider participation of civil society.
The members of the renewed civil dialogue groups will bring to the debate the various expectations of the citizens of the Union regarding the important economic role that agriculture has in rural areas, but also its contribution to fighting climate change and biodiversity losses, to improving the quality of food and the development of rural areas, elements that go hand in hand with the reform of the common agricultural policy adopted last year.
A separate selection panel was set up for each of the 14 civil dialogue groups, to assess the applications received and to provide the Director General for Agriculture and Rural Development with recommendations on the composition of each group. The selection panels assessed the applications on the basis of the requirements and conditions set out in the relevant call for applications and the related internal guidelines. (LC)