On Wednesday 19 February, the European Commission intends to present its ‘vision for agriculture and food’, under the leadership of Raffaele Fitto, Executive Vice-President responsible for Cohesion and Reform.
Appearing before the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture on Wednesday 29 January, the European Commissioner responsible, Christophe Hansen, avoided going into the details of this communication. He pointed out that farmers and rural areas were very important to the European economy and to food security, “not just in terms of quantity, but also in terms of quality”. But, in his view, this is not something that can be taken for granted. “It is therefore very important to work on this to guarantee agricultural production for decades to come”.
This vision will not be a “copy and paste” of the long report resulting from the ‘strategic dialogue’ on the future of European agriculture, “it will be shorter”, said Mr Hansen (see EUROPE 13475/1).
He insisted in particular on the conditions that need to be put in place to ensure that future generations assume their responsibilities in agriculture, noting that only 12% of farmers are under the age of 40. The Commissioner raised the issue of competitiveness, arguing, in essence, that farmers prefer to get a fair price for their work and spend time being productive rather than being overwhelmed by red tape.
Simplification. Simplification will be a key point of this vision “and I intend to present a simplification package in the first six months of this year”, reiterated Mr Hansen. In his view, the issue of environmental sustainability is crucial, “because a farmer needs the environment, but the environment needs farmers” (see EUROPE 13566/10).
He also mentioned the need to prepare the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
While highlighting the importance of maintaining the CAP as an essential tool to support farmers, the Commissioner for Agriculture argued that, “we must also ensure that this CAP is simpler, better targeted and provides the tools and resources to innovate”. Furthermore, he mentioned the contributions of the bioeconomy and, in terms of trade, the need for “greater reciprocity” on the part of third countries when it comes to production standards. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)