Brussels, 05/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - At a conference held in the Netherlands on 1 February, Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel once again set out her thoughts on how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should develop and on the questions the EU ought to ask itself next year at the time of the CAP “health check” and the mid-term review of the Community budget (see also EUROPE 9348 for Ms Fischer Boel's comments on Berlin's “Green Week”).
After adopting its draft proposal for the reform of the fruit and vegetable sector, the European Commission will, “before the end of March”, bring forward a report on changes to be brought to the cross-compliance system, which draws together environmental, animal welfare and food quality standards to which farmers must comply to qualify for direct aid. “I am not prepared to call the principle of cross-compliance into question: it is essential if we want to keep the support of the public for direct payments to farmers,” she said, and she confirmed that she was aware of the difficulties the sector was encountering in putting these rules into practice.
The Commission has also begun to consider the future of the CAP:
Health check: the health check will focus on the CAP between today and 2013. Contrary to what is suggested by the working title, “I can assure you the patient has nothing to fear,” said Ms Fischer Boel. It is not the intention of the Commission to undertake fundamental reform of the CAP, she reiterated, stressing that it was necessary to ensure the policy “is working as it should” in an EU of 27 members and in the foreseeable international context. The Commission does not, of course, rule out adjustments “here and there” to achieve the objectives “that we have already set for ourselves”. The Commission plans to bring changes to decoupled payments, “the principle of which is good”, Ms Fischer Boel pointed out. She also wanted to see an end to all the various exemptions to the principle which exist. Studies show the benefits that full decoupling of aid could bring, she said. Within the health check, “we should consider taking further steps towards full decoupling for all”. The Commission says that there should also be thought given to removing the setting-aside of agricultural land, an instrument which is perhaps no longer justifiable since the introduction of the single farm payment. In addition, Ms Fischer Boel wants the EU to look at the strong case for raising the level of compulsory modulation (transfers from direct aid into rural development). Finally, the EU might have to make changes to several market mechanisms, such as intervention, export refunds and production quotas. Ms Fischer Boel again stated her opposition to milk quota extensions after 2015, while acknowledging that transitional measures might be needed “to give producers a soft landing”.
Budget review: the mid-term budget review will provide the opportunity to work on the post-2013 CAP. Ms Fischer Boel said that this “must not simply be a quest for savings”. European agriculture will continue to face challenges and expectations after 2013, just as it does now. Demands placed on it could, indeed, grow heavier, “depending on developments in global food production, energy use and climate change”.
“Our starting point (for post-2013) would probably be that direct payments to farmers would still have a valuable role to play - in whatever form and at whatever level”. She expects the EU to: - get rid of the final exemptions in the system of fully decoupling aid; - examine traditional market instruments carefully; - develop its thinking on managing risks and crises. (lc)