Brussels, 03/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - Last week, the European Commission published the findings of a new 'Eurobarometer' opinion poll, revealing that more than half the people polled want EU farm spending to remain at the same level in the future but that 54% of EU citizens have never heard of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The results show a predominantly favourable reaction to two of the key elements of the 2003 agreement on CAP reform, namely cross-compliance and uncoupling of aid. The citizens most hostile to the CAP were not the British, far from it. The survey was conducted by TNS Opinion on behalf of the European Commission Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development between 17 November and 19 December 2006. Some 34,732 citizens were polled in the 25 member states, Bulgaria and Romania (still EU candidate countries when the poll was carried out).
The CAP. Some 54% of those polled admitted never having heard of the CAP. Far more ordinary people have heard about the Common Agricultural Policy in France, where nearly two thirds (64%) said they had heard of it, 19% of whom saying they knew exactly what it was. France comes ahead of Ireland and Poland in this connection. Bringing up the rear is Bulgaria, where only 16% of the population had heard of the CAP.
CAP reforms. The overwhelming majority of European citizens (just over 80%) support the 'cross-compliance' principle, whereby farmers face a reduction in payments if they fail to meet environmental, animal welfare or food safety standards. Almost 5 times as many think that giving more funding to rural development, as well as paying farmers directly, instead of subsidising their products are positive developments (49%) compared to those who think they are negative (11%). The single farm payment introduced in the reform of the CAP is greatly appreciated in Latvia, Romania (both 64%), Cyprus (63%) and Slovenia (60%). Those most hostile to the uncoupling of aid were in Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain.
Current CAP budget. The survey revealed that most of those polled approved the current level of EU farm spending. 45% believe that the proportion of the EU budget devoted to the CAP is suitable, more than the total of those polled who believe the budget is too small (15%) or too high (16%). This ranged from 36% of those polled in Sweden, who believe that the current farm budget is too high, to those who believe the EU farm budget is suitable (61% in Belgium, 58% in Slovakia and Finland and 56% in Germany). In the United Kingdom, 40% of those polled said the EU's current farm budget was suitable (11% said it was not high enough and 20% said it was too high).
Future of EU farm budget. Only 17% of those polled called for a cut in the amount of the EU's total budget spent on farming over the next ten years. 26% of those polled would like the CAP's share of the budget to be increased, with the most popular answer being to keep things as they are (32%). More than half of those polled (58%) think the amount of the EU's budget spent on agriculture should remain unchanged or increase. Country by country, the Danes (49%), Swedes (35%) and Dutch (31%) are most likely to call for a cut in the EU farm budget in the future, with the Greeks (60%), Latvians (59%) and Slovaks (48%) being most likely to call for a rise. The British have a reputation for being anti-farm spending, but 22% of those polled in the UK want to see a rise in the amount of the EU budget spent on farming (1% higher than in France), 26% call for no changes to be made and 21% want to see a fall in farm spending.
CAP objectives. 41% of those polled believe the Common Agricultural Policy's main aims should be ensuring safe and risk-free farm products. Those polled believe the other aims should be ensuring a suitable standard of living for farmers (37% of those polled across the EU) and ensuring reasonable prices for consumers (35%). 55% of those polled believe that the main role of farmers in society is to produce safe food. (lc)