Frenchman Henri Brichart, Vice-President of both COPA and the FNSEA (Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles, in France), was this week elected chairman of the EU civil dialogue group on the common agricultural policy (CAP) in Brussels for a one-year term of office to help steer discussions on the future CAP (see EUROPE 11683).
“The CAP is an essential part of farmers’ lives. It’s important that we can enter into dialogue with the EU Commission and other stakeholders on the future of it to explain the realities of farming and to ensure that measures are workable”, Brichart said.
Agriculture, he says, must remain a priority for the EU. “It’s a difficult time and farmers need a simple and stable CAP in the future, with application of common rules across the EU”, he added. He argued in particular that direct payments to farmers under the CAP must continue and that more tools will be needed in the future to help farmers better manage the risks of increasingly volatile markets.
The European Commission is set to open a public consultation on the CAP after 2020 at the start of February next year, followed by a communication in autumn 2017. Legislative proposals are expected in early 2018. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)