The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has come to the end of the line and is in need of radical overhaul, 258,708 citizens and 600 civil society organisations and businesses said on Wednesday 3 May (see EUROPE 11759 and 11779).
The CAP comes in for criticism in the submissions of these citizens and environmental organisations to the public consultation opened by the European Commission on modernising and simplifying the CAP. The consultation period ended on 2 May and the results will be presented at a major conference on 7 July.
The “large mobilisation” was generated by Living Land, an online campaign launched by WWF, Birdlife Europe and the European Environmental Bureau, calling for “an EU agricultural policy that protects our climate and environment, is fair for farmers and consumers, and contributes to healthy and sustainable food production”, says a press release from the NGOs.
The CAP needs to be re-thought, the NGOs say. A smarter agri-food model would be more sustainable and also healthier and fairer for all: it would be of substantial benefit to citizens, farmers in particular, and also to nature. The CAP, which accounts for almost 40% of the EU budget, “is a major driver of unsustainable farming in Europe, as it continues to stimulate industrial food production that causes environmental degradation”, the NGOs state. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)