The European Commission launched a three-month public consultation on Thursday 2 February on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), a first step towards modernising and simplifying the policy.
The CAP is already delivering significant benefits for European citizens, in terms of food security, the vitality of rural areas, the rural environment and the contribution to the climate change challenge (see EUROPE 11716), said the Commission in a press release. While making clear that he wanted to refine, revitalise and adequately fund the CAP, Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan defended direct payments at a press conference in Brussels. “Direct payments are very useful. They make it possible to maintain as many people as possible in rural areas and to prevent damage to the environment, as is happening in the United States, for example”, he stated.
Legislative proposals in 2018. The Commission will use the input from the expected thousands of submissions to help draft a communication on the future of the CAP by the end of December 2017 (or November 2017, “if all goes well”, the commissioner said). Legislative proposals on the reform of the policy will be published in 2018, a very tight schedule made even tighter since the impact of the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU will have to be taken into account. “We are dependent on the European Council for the budget allocated to the CAP”, Hogan highlighted. The Commission is expected, too, to submit proposals on the EU’s 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework (MFF) towards the end of the 2017.
Brexit. The Commission expects the United Kingdom no longer to be part of the EU by around 2019, and this will have consequences for the post-2020 MFF and for policies. “It’s true that, for the budget, the British contribution is essential for policies and programmes to be implemented in future”, Hogan acknowledged. He indicated that agriculture was one of the sectors affected. He said he hoped that budgetary issues would be resolved at the start of the procedure.
Results of consultation presented in July. The public consultation will last twelve weeks will give farmers, citizens, organisations and any other interested parties the chance to have their say on the future of the CAP. The results of the consultation will be published online and presented by Commissioner Hogan at a conference in Brussels in July 2017.
Some NGOs and the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament have criticised the structure of the consultation, with its “close-ended” questions. Hogan defended it. “The consultation contains open-ended questions”, he stated (questions where respondents are asked to give ideas on certain themes).
Several major developments which have taken place recently, such as increased market uncertainty and falling prices, new international commitments on climate change and sustainable development, have shown the CAP needs to respond more effectively.
Speaking about the high number of suicides in the agricultural world, Hogan acknowledged that a better rural development package was required to allow vulnerable persons access to support services.
Capping of aid. On the issue of 80% of EU agricultural funding going to only 20% of farmers, often agri-food companies, Hogan simply pointed out that, in the 2013 reform, the Commission had proposed a cap on the levels of direct aid but that this had been rejected by the joint legislators. “The Commission proposes and the others decide”, he commented. “Maybe there will be political agreement on this cap the next time. We’ll try once again”, he said.
Added value. The commissioner stated that simplification was his number one priority and that he would pursue action on this. He said that stock had to be taken of the CAP and that it had to be seen how the CAP could bring “added value, something extra. We have to see the real needs in political terms before deciding on figures”, he said. In the negotiations on the 2014-2020 framework the opposite had happened – the figures were decided before the policies. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)