Brussels, 13/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Agricultural Convention (EAC), an alliance of civil society, MEPs, representatives from EU Member States and European officials, has sent its recommendations on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to the European Council of Copenhagen. The EAC, which held a forum in at the beginning of December, chaired by Joseph Daul and Friedrich-Wilhelm Graefe zu Baringdorf, President and Vice President of the European Parliament agriculture committee, affirmed that the Union had to seize the "unique" occasion offered by enlargement to encourage sustainable development.
The EAC is requesting, in particular, that the European Council support the Commission's proposal to transfer more loans to the rural development pillar as, "farmers are depending more and more on other factors of the rural economy than food production". The EAC also "resolutely supports" the Commission proposal that "the new aid system to farmers is compulsorily subordinated to respect for standards on food safety, animal welfare, public health and environmental protection". (For more details: info@agriculturalconvention.org).