Brussels, 22/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - In Annecy on Sunday 21 September, French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier began the debate on the tasks the common agricultural policy (CAP) should fulfil after 2013. At the conference held by the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), he highlighted the urgency of the need to open a strategic debate on agriculture “if we don't want agriculture to become the European budget's balancing variable”. 2009 will see the new Commission appointed and the European elections. If the EU does not talk now about the CAP for the future, it will only be able to do so in 2010, when the next financial perspective (2013-2020) is discussed. The European Commission, however, believes that the priority is first to reach agreement on the CAP health check before considering the post-2013 CAP.
One among the other reasons for launching the post-2013 CAP debate now, Barnier said, was that there was “no shared vision” among the 27 member states. Equally, WTO negotiations at the end of July had shown that there were two contrasting ideas being put forward: agriculture that has to adapt to international trade rules against trade rules that have to be adapted to agricultural and food reality. “And it's because India refused to expose its 800 million farmers to massive low-price imports and stood firm against the United States, that no agreement was reached at the WTO”. The third reason, according to the French minister was that agriculture is a strategic issue, because, in Europe, it concerns our food, our form of development and our environment. Barnier said it was essential for market stabilisation instruments to be retained and for instruments protecting against climate change and health risks to be put in place. “If there are no regulation instruments, we concentrate, we sterilise, we increase pollution, we take risks and we import” he argued. He said, too, that the CAP needs a budget (currently it takes up almost 35% of the European budget): “But less than €100 per European per year, is that too high a price to pay for our consumers' food safety?” He argued that not having a CAP would cost much more than the current CAP. With regard to the CAP health check (amendments to be brought to the CAP from 2009-2010), Barnier said he was looking for an “ambitious agreement” that would allow “each of our countries”, in the light of its own needs and situation, to map out the future of its agriculture. (L.C./transl.rt)