The NGO Greenpeace called, on Monday 4 May, for an overhaul of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and a new system of agricultural subsidies drawing lessons from the coronavirus pandemic crisis.
The European Union must “scrap” its CAP and build “a food and farming system that saves small-scale farmers and protects us from future pandemics”, says Greenpeace.
The NGO believes that new proposals on the CAP should be part of an overhaul of the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027. The Commission is expected to present a new revised MFF in May.
Greenpeace is calling for an end to the system that gives the top 1% of farmers a third of farming subsidies and that “heavily favours industrial animal farming”.
According to Greenpeace's Marco Contiero, the “CAP now pushes a food system that hurts small-scale farmers, destroys nature and puts us at risk of more pandemics”.
Greenpeace is calling for the EU to support all farmers to farm ecologically, ensuring that they have secure livelihoods while producing affordable and healthy food. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)