Amsterdam, 31/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - France put forward ideas on Tuesday 31 May on the future of the common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2020, with suggestions for improving the rules of the greening of aid and stepping up efforts to counter the many hazards (health, climatic and economic crises).
The Dutch Presidency of the Agriculture Council held a debate in Amsterdam on Tuesday on the future of the CAP after 2020, organised around five key issues: agriculture and food policy; innovation; the environment; the supply chain; and policy towards developing countries.
France submitted a contribution on the reformed CAP for the period after 2020. No official comment has yet been made on this contribution by the other delegations. France proposes, in a sense, to extend the main the main provisions of the CAP but to complement it so that it takes account of new challenges, such as crisis management and combating climate change.
French Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll was keen to open the debate on the CAP post-2020 because “there are papers circulating which are calling for the common agricultural policy to be dismembered”, he told a small group of journalists outside the room where the informal meeting of agriculture ministers was being held. France is advancing general guidelines to “defend European agriculture and the CAP”, he commented. He laid emphasis on the need to simplify greening rules: it would be better having a contract with the Commission based on objectives rather than having permanently to check the means used. Le Foll proposed that homogenous zones be put in place, with targets to be met under three criteria: level of organic material in the soil (for carbon storage), biodiversity and soil cover.
Counter-cyclical nature of CAP. In terms of crisis management, France proposes that a percentage of direct aid be put into precautionary savings. This money could then be used in the event of problems. Because the EU budget is multiannual, it is not possible to have a counter-cyclical system (aid paid out when prices to farmers are low and not paid when prices are high). France proposes a system that would make it possible to bring a counter-cyclical character to the CAP, replacing the agricultural crisis reserve.
The French contribution on the reformed CAP after 2020 is built on three priorities.
Growth, employment and competitiveness of the sectors. France is calling for decoupled payments to be maintained, shared out so as to promote employment, and for it to continue to be possible to make increased payments for the first hectares (“redistributive payment”). It argues for coupled aid, which would be made more flexible. The aim is for the coupled aid to continue to support fragile sectors but to be able to be used in future to support emerging sectors or for production systems that are deemed to be sound. The document also lays emphasis on rural development measures designed to encourage innovation and investment (agri-ecology, precision agriculture, etc.). France is calling for a new European Partnership for Innovation (EPI) devoted to innovation in the agri-food and agricultural and forest bio-economy sectors. To help capture new export markets, it calls for an export credits facility.
Environmental public goods and territorial development. Provisions on the greening of aid (30%) would be retained but would be simplified and strengthened by the addition of a fourth compulsory criterion on soil cover. “This criterion will increases biomass production by maximising the use of photosynthesis”, the French document says. It would encourage carbon storage in the soil and resistance to wash-off and erosion.
With regard to greening and agri-environmental measures, France proposes moving away from a policy of monitoring to a policy of contracts setting goals and outcomes.
Resilience to health, climatic and economic hazards. France wants the tools for specific sectors (fruit and vegetables or wine growing, for example) to be retained. The safety net (exceptional measures) and market regulation tools should be “maintained”. Existing arrangements to deal with climatic and health hazards (crop insurance and mutual health funds) will be retained and will provide for compensation for farmers' losses of over 30%. They will have to be supplemented by an effective tool against economic hazards, similar to insurance against loss of revenue or an income stabilising tool. These instruments, however, would only cover losses of more than 30% and may result in lengthy delays before payment of compensation. France proposes complementing these measures with an effective tool to support farmers' cash-flow (compulsory precautionary saving measure). This would seek to cover all types of risk and would apply to all farmers. It would be direct aid paid into an account frozen for a certain length of time that can be used in case of hazard.
When asked about the future of the CAP, the Swedish delegation took the opposite approach, arguing for reduction of direct aid and focussing of aid on the second pillar of the CAP (rural development).
Commissioner Phil Hogan underlined the need, in future, to strengthen supplementary measures to take climate change into account. He also highlighted the need to consider new instruments to better manage crises. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur with Maëlle Didion)