Following a meeting with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on Friday, 26 April, the presidents and vice-presidents of the EU’s agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) have—in preparation for the next term of elective office—notably called for “a real review of the agricultural budget to align environmental, geopolitical, and financial ambitions”.
Christiane Lambert, president of Copa, and Lennart Nilsson, president of Cogeca, have also asked the European Commission to conduct a global impact assessment of current agricultural policies at the beginning of the next mandate as well as feasibility studies on new proposals.
“The growing need for coherence between the EU’s trade policy and its ambitions for the internal market was also stressed as well as the need, from an institutional point of view, for a European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Areas with the role of Vice-President”, according to Copa-Cogeca, whose demands appear in its recent ‘manifesto’ in readiness for June’s European elections (see EUROPE 13394/12). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)