In a document published on 20 February, the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU identified six priorities (resilience, environment, generational renewal, et al) for the common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2020.
The purpose of the document is to inform the debate on the future of the CAP to be held at the next Agriculture Council on 6 March, after the public consultation launched by the European Commission (see EUROPE 11717).
The Maltese Presidency has identified six priorities in light of the work already done on this issue by the agriculture ministers (informal meetings in Amsterdam and Chambord) and by the agricultural market task force (AMTF).
The Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) will discuss the Presidency document on Monday 27 February, in preparation for the Council the following week.
The Maltese Presidency says that discussion on the post-2020 CAP will be conducted “without prejudice to the next Multiannual Financial Framework as well as to the need to maintain an adequate budget for future CAP”.
Resilience, environment, generational renewal. Building the resilience of agriculture is the first of the six priorities. This, the Presidency says, would include risk management, be it in relation to weather, health or sanitary risks, access to financial instruments, income/price volatility, competitiveness and innovation, and food security. After this comes responding to environmental challenges (increasing the sustainability of agriculture, delivering on international commitments following the Paris Agreement on tackling climate change or broader goals under the 2030 agenda for sustainable development). The third priority is generational renewal, by ensuring access to finance, knowledge transfer, vocational training, and reducing “administrative hurdles”.
Market orientation, the food chain and simplification. The Maltese Presidency also flags up “maintaining a market orientation” (encouraging farmers to base their production decisions on market indicators. This, according to the Presidency, will cover “issues such as fostering competition, finding the right balance between opening new markets and protecting sensitive sectors, and improving export competitiveness”. The fifth priority identified is strengthening farmers’ position in the food supply chain, by addressing transparency, contractual relations, unfair trading practices, and building to that effect on the AMTF report and the Council conclusions of December 2016. Lastly, the document highlights simplification, described as a “cross-cutting priority” not only at the level of legislation but also in terms of implementation and controls.
“Rebalancing” of first and second pillars. The Maltese Presidency plans to structure the ministerial discussions of 6 March around two questions: “In your view, what would be most effective way to address these priorities?” and “Without prejudice to the overall financing of the CAP, do you think that a rebalancing exercise should take place between the first and the second pillar of the CAP in order to deliver on these priorities?” Member states may decide to transfer up to 15% of their annual national funding for the first pillar to rural development measures. The regulation also allows transfers in the opposite direction, that is to say, from the second to the first pillar. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)