On Wednesday 31 January, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) took the view that the instruments available under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to resolve crises, including mutual funds and the agricultural crisis reserve, “suffer from a lack of resources”. It is therefore calling for “a drastic increase in their budget reserve”.
In adopting an opinion by Nicola Caputo (Renew Europe, Italian) on risk management, the CoR calls for further debate on possible measures to correct the CAP in the light of the major crisis facing the sector and “to position the CoR in the ongoing debate on the review of the EU budget as a defender of agricultural policy and an authoritative player in this field”.
Local and regional elected representatives are calling for a complete redefinition of the range of instruments available to European farmers to increase their economic resilience. In particular, they are proposing the creation of a European system to map the risks of extreme weather phenomena of a systemic nature (such as drought or floods). The CoR proposes that, “for the same financial allocation, the CAP should be redesigned to provide an entirely new framework that can respond more effectively and rapidly to the needs of the EU’s farmers and rural areas”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)