Brussels, 02/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Cees Veerman, who chairs the agricultural markets task force, stated on 26 April that he did not want to re-write the common agricultural policy (CAP), merely strengthen the position of EU farmers in the food supply chain.
Czeslaw Adam Siekierski (EPP, Poland), chair of the European Parliament's agricultural committee, welcoming the former Dutch agriculture minister to the committee, said: “Mr Hogan looks upon you as the knight in shining armour who will lead us out of the crisis”.
The task force was set up by European Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan to come up with solutions to the weak position of farmers in the food supply chain. It has already had three meetings and will publish its report with its recommendations in October or November, Veerman said.
“It is not our intention to revise the CAP. We want to improve the position of farmers in food production”, Veerman made clear. He introduced the member state experts who sit on the task force and set out the group's four priorities: 1) transparency and market data: the idea is to assess how farmers can benefit from reliable, transparent data when deciding about selling, buying, ploughing, planting and milking; 2) the futures market: what role should futures have in limiting risks of price fluctuation in a globalised market. “Prices are more volatile and futures can probably help smooth the risks for farmers and buyers and avoid the unforeseen”, Veerman said; 3) contractualisation (how can contracts guarantee income and help address price volatility and how can these contracts be made more tradeable?); 4) access to investment funds (such as the “Juncker fund”). Veerman promised the task force would take account of MEPs' comments in its discussions.
Clara Eugenia Aguilera Garcia (S&D, Spain) suggested that farmers were “the weak link” in the food chain. She has no great faith in the agricultural crisis reserve (which is financed by reducing agricultural aid). Milk contracts which exist, for example, in Spain have not prevented the crisis, she pointed out. James Nicholson (ECR, UK) hoped that the task force report would not be shelved. How can farmers be made to accept futures and new markets; there is distrust among farmers of processors, Nicholson went on. Jan Huitema (ALDE, Netherlands) spoke about insurance systems and links with financial instruments. Maria Lidia Senra Rodriguez (GUE/NGL, Spain) said that suggesting farmers look to international markets is no more than a repair patch. She argued that it was the problems of the small and medium-sized holdings on the internal market that had to be looked at. Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, Germany) was quite doubtful as to the results that could be expected of the task force. He criticised the composition of the expert group (Veermen is the only representative of the agricultural sector) and called for unfair market competition to be addressed. John Stuart Agnew (EFDD, UK) pointed out that the Canadians were using an insurance system which seemed to be working well. Mairead McGuinness (EPP, Ireland), who is the rapporteur on the food chain, underlined the need for EU-wide legislation to combat unfair practices. She said, too, that discussion was needed on how to remove the power of the food chain giants. Angélique Delahaye (EPP, France), rapporteur on price volatility, posed the question of what was meant by transparency. She said she had often noted that “transparency resulted in the dominant market player ultimately preying on the weakest market player”. Michel Dantin (EPP, France) wondered about the development of competition law (what part of the law serves the interest of the worker and what part that of the consumer?). Daniel Buda (EPP, Romania) said that farmers had to be helped to adapt production to demand. Albert Dess (EPP, Germany) argued for strong measures, such as restricting the share of any single participant in contractualisation to 10%. “Things can't go on as they are!” he said.
Responding to the questions and comments from MEPs, Veerman said that there was a great difference between price stabilisation and price level (formation). Instruments can be found to address volatility (insurance, futures, etc.). To amend price levels, structural changes would be required and intervention on the markets. He takes the opposite view that “the system should be less and less interventionist and less and less managed by public authorities”.
Veeerman believes that public aid should serve only to remunerate associated services provided by small farms, such as protecting the environment and planning. “The instruments we are talking about in the task force will benefit especially large farms which want to operate on the global market”, he acknowledged. For small and medium-sized holdings, other instruments are needed.
Before speaking about competition law, the desire among farmers to get together to form producer groups has to be considered: “That is where competition law begins”, Veerman said. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)