Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture recalled the crucial role of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in ensuring food security, during the celebration on Tuesday 8 November of the 60th anniversary of this policy, which has gone through difficult times (Covid-19, war in Ukraine).
MEPs and the European Commission recalled that the role of Parliament in the CAP had increased significantly since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty on 1 December 2009.
Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for Agriculture, said that more policies, not just the CAP, should contribute to rural development, especially cohesion policy.
For the post-2027 period (the new CAP will be in force from 2023 to 2027), the EU will need a “stronger” CAP, the Commissioner said: 0.4% of (European) GDP spent on food security is “too little”, according to Wojciechowski.
Jiří Šír, the Czech Deputy Minister of Agriculture, recalled that the CAP is one of the most important policies of the EU, although much has changed since its inception in 1962.
The rapporteurs on the latest CAP reform also spoke.
Peter Jahr (EPP, German) called for new instruments to regulate production quantities. Like other MEPs, he denounced the bureaucratic burden of the CAP on farmers.
Martin Hlaváček (Renew Europe, Czech) regretted that the CAP measures had not ensured that the market worked well. What is wrong needs to be put right, he says.
Eric Andrieu (S&D, French) paid tribute to the visionary role of the first Commissioner for Agriculture, Sicco Mansholt, and laid the foundations for a third CAP to be put in place to achieve the EU’s strategic autonomy in agriculture and food.
Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italian) stressed in particular the need to encourage young people to take up agricultural production.
Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spain) said that rural areas should be preserved, “but we are not as successful as we would like to be”. She also felt that too many CAP reforms have created concerns for farmers. The latest reform has created a risk of renationalisation of this policy, she regretted.
Dacian Cioloș (Renew Europe, Romanian) praised the successes of the CAP, while regretting the decline in the number of farmers. In the future, the CAP must focus on how to ensure accessible food, while meeting consumer demands. It will be necessary to guarantee stability of income for farmers, concluded the former European Commissioner for Agriculture.
Link to a study presented to the Committee on Agriculture on the growing role of Parliament in the CAP: https://aeur.eu/f/3xr (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)