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Brussels, 19 june 2002
Euro Coop believes the CAP has to be deeply reformed
Agenda 2000 foresees a Mid Term Review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be driven by the European Commission in 2003. Euro Coop presents this position paper to expose its views and wishes for the future of the CAP on the basis of the experience of its members as Consumer Co-operatives which get well informed in their daily activities of the awaiting of both consumers and farmers. This position paper is intended to help the European Commission and the Governments of the Member States of the European Union (EU) to take into account the Consumer Co-operatives' expectations in the future CAP.
Euro Coop believes that the CAP has to be deeply reformed to orient European agriculture towards a truly sustainable agriculture. We are well aware that a complete reform of the CAP will not be possible in 2003. The Mid Term Review should however be the occasion to propose concrete measure to tackle some issues in the near future through adjustment proposals and budgetary re-allocations. We also invite the EU institutions to launch a debate on CAP which would involve all stakeholders and give them the opportunity to share their views and expectations for the future of European agriculture. Stakeholders should be consulted at all stages of the Mid Term Review and of the possible debate thereafter, in compliance with the principle evoked in the White Book on European Governance. Consulting committees, such as the Advisory Committees on Agriculture could be revived for this purpose.
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Euro Coop believes that the CAP must be deeply reformed
- The CAP, in its present form, has to face many legitimate criticisms. Taxpayers and consumers pay huge amounts of money through taxes and food prices to support a agricultural production irrespective of its impact on the environment, food safety and quality, animal welfare and which is obviously unable to provide consumers with confidence in the food they buy.
- The upcoming negotiation round within the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will force the European Union to reform the CAP, especially with regard to export subsidies. Euro Coop acknowledges that the WTO should not be a forum for discussion on social and environmental issues. However, we urge the European Commission to propose measures that would protect European agriculture where it is environmentally sustainable through the non-trade concern mechanisms evoked in the Declaration of Doha. We believe that if the CAP is not restructured in line with these concerns, the European Commission will have difficulty in defending a coherent position in the negotiation talks.
- The enlargement of the EU is also another reason why the CAP should be substantially changed. The financial burden of the European Community's (EC) budget will first of all increase, even if the new Member States are not given the same amount of direct payments than previous Member States. Euro Coop is really concerned by the fact that the CAP, as it exists at present, may endanger the accession countries' agricultural sector through increased competition and so lead to the destruction of their traditional farming sectors. Euro Coop recalls that this is by no way fiction as such a destruction happened in Portugal, where traditional agriculture got lost in favour of intensive farming after the country's accession to the EC.
Euro Coop's vision for a truly sustainable agriculture
Our vision is for a farming and food sector that is profitable and sustainable. Agricultural production should continue to take place both in productive and less productive regions. In the first for reasons of efficient food production, in the latter because it usually enhances landscapes and biological diversity, while providing a social fabric for remote regions.
Euro Coop wants an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable agriculture. We believe that it is necessary that the CAP be closely linked to the concept of sustainable development. This means that the rural development policies should take into account the competitiveness of European agriculture, but it can not ignore market forces and must produce what the consumer wants which means also taking into account social and environmental aspects. Nowadays the CAP is production focussed forgetting the need to take account of these consumer demands.
Social criteria for sustainable development means that the rural policies should take into account the issues of employment, cultural diversification, regional development, living rural areas etc. From the Consumers' point of view, the social criteria also imply that the CAP has to serve as a way to improve food quality and safety. Euro Coop believes that this can only be done by favouring a funding structure not related solely to production.
Environmental criteria means that rural policies should also take into account the problems related to their consequences on the environment in accordance with article 6 of the Treaty of Amsterdam. It is therefore really necessary to green the CAP and to redirect subsidies to activities that are environmentally friendly.
9 proposals towards a truly sustainable agriculture in Europe
- We want to see the current EU regime of price support and production subsidies dismantled as quickly as possible. Public money must be refocused on real social and environmental benefits. The guiding principle must be that public money should be used to pay for public goods that consumers want and need.
- Direct payments should therefore be uncoupled from production and be subject to environmental and social conditions for as long as they do exist. Resources should be progressively transferred to the so-called 2nd pillar of the CAP to pay for rural development and environmental protection schemes. Euro Coop underlines that it does not believe the shift of financial means from one pillar to another to be a long term satisfying solution. This solution can only be temporary and has to be followed as soon as possible by a deep reform of the CAP and a re-negotiation of the whole Agenda 2000. A study published by DG Agri indeed shows that a simple reinforcement of rural development measure is not enough to create a truly sustainable agriculture in Europe 1.
- Modulation, understood as money transfers from direct payments to rural development measures, should become compulsory for Member States as soon as possible to emphasise the results of the progressive switch of funds from the first to the 2nd Pillar. The 20% limit should be removed as soon as possible. This combined measures would have the advantage of obliging Member States to switch funds from the first pillar to the second one, without restraining Member States which would like to support rural development more than it is allowed today.
- Euro Coop believes that organic farming is one of the best means to achieve a truly sustainable agriculture in Europe. The development of a EU fund destined to support farmers during the conversion period and thereafter should be encouraged, but we insist that this should not prevent Member States to take national initiatives aiming to achieve the same goal.
- Non market effects such as entertaining landscapes or protecting bio-diversity should be taken into account in the CAP's funding system. This could be a mean of helping farmers in the case of a phasing out of subsidies, among which export subsidies, by remunerating them for environmental benefits the market does not provide which can be "non trade concerns" as mentioned in the Doha Declaration.
- Euro Coop recommends that EU wide agreements on the raising on animal welfare standards in Europe. This would ensure consumers to be sure that the animal products they purchase were produced in an ethical way without causing unneeded sufferance to animals.
- Labelling of environment friendly and socially aware production methods should be encouraged further by future agricultural policies. Consumer Co-operatives have experience in implementing consumer right to make informed choices. For example, many Consumer Co-operatives have used labelling to give consumers information about the environmental and social impacts of the products they buy. In truth, Euro Coop thinks that this has only a marginal effect at present, but is an area we are keen to see developed in the future. European farmers should be encouraged to join in. these systems.
- Euro Coop regrets that pollution generated by agricultural production methods was not addressed in the Commission's proposal for a Directive on Environmental Liability (COM (2002) 17). Euro Coop urges the Commission to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the CAP and to identify legislative ways to ensure consumers' essential rights, such as free access to clean water and soils.
- Euro Coop is strongly opposed to an increased co-financing of the CAP by Member States, as it is sometimes proposed. The overwhelming majority of CAP measures have to be financed by the Community's budget, in order to ensure equality of treatment for farmers across the EU. An increased co-financing would distort competition within the Internal Market as individual Member States could continue to ignore consumers' interests without any obligation to support rural areas and take account of social and environmental issues. If a certain level of co-financing were introduced due to the enlargement and the burden it may represent for the Community's budget, the merge of freedom of the Member States should be very limited in order for the CAP to remain a "common" agricultural policy and not change into 15 or 25 different policies with different priorities.
Aude L'hirondel
Food Policy Officer
Tel: +32.2.285.00.70 - Fax: +32.2.231.07.57 E-mail: Alhirondel@eurocoop.org
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