Just a few weeks before the presentation, scheduled for 17 November, of the European Commission’s communication on the agricultural reform post-2013, the future of the Common AgriculturalPolicy (CAP) was the theme of the informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers, from 19 to 21 September in La Hulpe.
“Based on the lessons learned from the public debate [on the future of the CAP], what should be the role of the first pillar [market support and direct payments]?;" “how can the future CAP have the necessary flexibility to respond to regional specificities and manage unpredictable economic crisis situations?” are the two questions put to ministers, whose debate were based on a document entitled Choosing today for a strong CAP tomorrow’, which synthesises the points of view of persons and organisations, which had their say on 19-20 July in Brussels during the close of the public consultation on the future of the CAP green-lighted in April by Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos.
According to Belgium, while this public debate highlighted a broad consensus in favour of maintaining the two pillars of the CAP, it also underlined the need to clarify and reinforce their complementary nature. The opinions most frequently voiced during this conference were summarised as follows in the document drawn up by the Belgian Presidency: the aim of the direct payments scheme is to obtain a reasonable income for farmers, bearing in mind the fact that the market alone is not always capable of offering adequate income and that it is necessary to ensure protection against the extreme volatility of prices; food security results in maintaining agricultural land in good agronomical and environmental conditions; legitimate compensation is necessary to respect higher standards of quality and security; the first pillar of the CAP must promote and compensate the efficient supply and provision of European public assets, such as the efforts undertaken to combat climate change and biodiversity loss.
The Belgian Presidency’s document also underlines that, during the public debate, several speakers insisted on the need for greater flexibility in management. To ensure the modernisation of farms, the CAP should offer the deployment of new resources to promote innovation in order to allow the diversification of rural areas and to meet the challenges in a quickly changing world.
Lastly, the Presidency emphasises that the issue of greater financial flexibility’ to create conditions for a more dynamic CAP remains open. However, it specifies, a more flexible mechanism was recommended during the public debate in order to allow better implementation at the territorial level.
DAIRY MARKET
At the same time, the agricultural attachés of the 27 member states continued their discussions, in the margins of the session, on the report and recommendations of the high-level group of experts on milk, set up in October 2009 with a view to accompanying the gradual disappearance of quotas and strengthening the negotiating power of breeders within the sector. Previous debates revealed significant differences in opinion between member states, in particular with regard to the establishment of formal contractual relations between producers and the dairy industry, the role of interprofessional organisations and market support measures. Liberal countries confirmed their hostility to any exemptions from competition law. The very cut-and-dried positions declared by countries, such as the United Kingdom, Sweden and the Netherlands, risk making the development of a common text highly problematic and are likely to be a setback to the European dairy sector.
