Brussels, 22/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 22 March, more than 50 NGOs active in farming, development, environment, climate, animal welfare, food systems and public health, signed a joint letter, to the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, to demand genuine reform to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
According to these NGOs: ACT Alliance EU, BirdLife Europe, Compassion in World Farming, European Environmental Bureau, Eurogroup for Animals, Greenpeace, Slow Food, WWF European Policy and Bee Life European Beekeeping Coordination, the CAP, which accounts for almost 40% of the EU budget, is not equipped to address the fundamental challenges that Europe is facing in the agriculture sector. The CAP suffers from six major problems: it maintains an unfair system for farmers (increased concentration, 70% of direct payments from the CAP go to 20% of farmers…); it fails to tackle the constant crisis on agricultural markets (a major part of the money paid by consumers goes to intermediaries, businesses and retailers, rather than the farmers); it fails to stem the continuous decline in the state of natural resources (agriculture is responsible for pollution, affects biodiversity, including bees); it fails to deliver animal welfare objectives; it has serious public health effects and has severe negative impacts beyond Europe's borders (a high level of imports of animal feed, a decline in exports from sub-Saharan Africa etc.).
These NGOs are calling for the CAP to undergo a fitness check. They also raise the question of whether the CAP is still an appropriate policy and if it actually provides added value. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)