EU trade organisations are more or less satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations on the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (see EUROPE 12753/6).
The EU’s agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) believe that the political agreement reached is balanced and that it respects the economic aspect of the CAP and the EU’s strategic autonomy. However, Copa-Cogeca is also vigilant about alignment with the European Green Deal and social conditionality. The devil is in the detail, warns the organisation, which is reserving a more comprehensive response to the agreement for a later stage, as “many contentious issues” will be discussed during the upcoming technical deliberations.
For Via Campesina, it is already clear that the text does not contain the necessary tools to achieve the necessary social, economic and environmental sustainability. The farmers’ organisation believes that this reform does not achieve the objectives of the ‘European Green Deal’ as well as the ‘Farm to Fork’ and ‘Biodiversity’ strategies. Moreover, it regrets the absence of public policies that regulate and control production and stabilise the market.
The European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), for its part, welcomes the negotiators’ decision to increase support for young farmers, calling it “an important decision, which is a major step towards providing young people with the right tools to develop their farming activities while enjoying better living conditions”.
The Farm Europe think tank also welcomes an agreement that preserves the common character of the CAP and gives impetus to a real economic and environmental ambition by significantly improving the European Commission’s initial proposals.
For the European Milk Board (EMB), the inclusion of voluntary volume reduction as a crisis management tool, and of market observatories, in the common market organisation (CMO) “creates the conditions for faster detection of, and response to, crises”.
The European Federation of Origin Wines (EFOW) says it is satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations, which have made it possible to strengthen the regulatory framework for origin wines, in particular with regard to the extension and improvement of the planting authorisation system, the maintenance of a specific winegrower’s identity in terms of the labelling of calories and ingredients, and the consolidation of promotional activity for origin wines in third countries.
Finally, the International Confederation of European Beet Growers (CIBE) regrets that the discussions “unfortunately did not lead to an adequate and concrete decision to make sugar eligible for public intervention”. They are now awaiting the recommendations of the High Level Group on sugar. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)