Policies

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

More than half the population of the 27-member EU lives in rural areas, representing 90% of the land surface. Rural areas are to a certain extent lagging behind urban areas; incomes are below average and there is more unemployment.

The members of the EPP-ED Group are aware that the new CAP will be based on defending the interests of consumers and taxpayers. They also realise that in future most agricultural aid will be ‘decoupled’ from production: single farm payments depending on surface area rather than production. In this way, our Group has fought to maintain the agricultural production in less favoured areas.

The Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) has historically played an important role in European integration, and the members of the EPP-ED Group have worked very actively on its development as an integrated policy.

2007 can be considered a transition year between the application of the latest reforms and future adjustment to the new financial perspectives, the principles of the World Trade Organisation and the ‘conditionality’ of agricultural aid on respect for the environment.

In this context, a CAP ‘health report’ will be drawn up from 2008, aiming to assess the situation of European agriculture and its future prospects. The members of the EPP-ED Group will play a very active part, together with the Commission, in evaluating ways of improving the system while maintaining the principles of the European agriculture model.

The members of the EPP-ED Group consistently endeavour to encourage growth and employment in rural areas while valuing sustainable development. The European agriculture model must also increase competitiveness, encourage diversification and improve environmental protection.

PRIORITIES OF THE EPP-ED GROUP

• Simplifying the CAP to bring it more in line with citizens’ concerns; formalities and bureaucracy must be reduced to give farmers easier access to aid;



• Adjusting the CAP to the World Trade Organisation’s new international trade rules, while maintaining quality and designations of origin and making more effort to promote the products of European agriculture;



• Production of biofuels, in the context of energy self-sufficiency and respect for the environment linked to the promotion of renewable energies;



• Rural development policy, aiming to simplify implementation, increase transparency and coherence and improve financial management; to this end, the EPP-ED Group proposed that it be funded from a single rural development fund; this proposal was adopted and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) has been put in place;



• Adjusting the agriculture sector to the ‘decoupled’ aid system: the latest CAP reform has ‘decoupled’ subsidies to farmers from production; the new single farm payment depends on the surface area of the farm and no longer on its production, and there are ‘conditionality’ criteria linked to respect for the environment, human and animal health and animal welfare.

In this context, our Group was the main player in the most recent sectoral reforms: in sugar, fruit and vegetables, bananas and maize among others. The wine sector is currently undergoing reform. The milk sector is also to be reformed in future, including the future of milk quotas.

The competitiveness of agricultural markets is also a key point for the EPP-ED Group, in connection with promoting the products of European agriculture.

In response to the many criticisms of the CAP, the EPP-ED Group points out that:

The CAP is the only truly integrated policy in the European Union, today accounting for about 40% of the EU budget, or about 0.43% of GDP (in 1990, the CAP represented about 65%). This represents a modest cost, considering what the CAP provides:

• food production and regular supply,
• food security,
• quality,
• keeping farming going in rural areas,
• animal welfare,
• preserving the environment.

The CAP has evolved and has become less and less protectionist. Introduction of the decoupled system has put an end to incentives for farmers to focus on production with the sole aim of receiving direct subsidies.

The CAP has developed the concept of multifunctionality of European agriculture, aiming to:

• prevent the exodus from rural areas,
• safeguard the countryside and protect the environment,
• preserve food quality,
• develop biofuels with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
• maintain employment in rural areas.

The EU also benefits developing countries and is the principal world importer of products from these countries. The EU conducts a genuine food aid policy.

The CAP represents much more than a producer sector. The EPP-ED Group is convinced that the CAP is vital for our future. It is very simplistic to say that the EU devotes 40% of its budget to a declining activity that only concerns 5% of its population and 2% of its wealth. On the contrary, our Group considers that the CAP is bound to become increasingly important as the world population increases. The CAP, which represents only 0.43% of the EU GDP, guarantees food supplies while ensuring the quality of these products and preserving the environment.

The CAP has been able to adapt to the radical changes that have occurred since it began. Today, thanks to the efforts of the members of the EPP-ED Group, management has become much simpler, more transparent and more effective. These changes have enabled the CAP to overcome the challenges it has had to face, through the reforms undertaken since 1992, against a background of:

• successive EU enlargements,
• globalisation and increased competition on world agricultural markets,
• society's new requirements with regard to the environment, animal welfare, food security and consumer protection, among others,
• the new financial rules.