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Brussels, 11 April 2003
PRESS RELEASE
EURO COOP Reiterates its Call for Profound CAP Reform
On 25 March 2003, EURO COOP took the opportunity to reiterate its call for a profound reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in a meeting with Commissioner Fischler in the European Commission Advisory Committee on the CAP.
EURO COOP supports a reform of the CAP for a truly sustainable agriculture and does not wish to see the Commission proposals watered down further during negotiations, quite the contrary, said Senior Adviser, Ms Louise Ousted Olsen, during the meeting. She added: "For EURO COOP, it is important that measures are introduced to promote organic farming, as well as making a link between CAP reform and the upcoming EU Action Plan on Organic Farming".
EURO COOP believes that information to the consumer, for instance, via labelling, is an important tool to promote and encourage more sustainable consumption patterns. In this respect, EURO COOP's member organisations have much experience in providing information to their consumer-members on the environmental and social impact of the products that they buy.
EURO COOP's proposal for CAP reform calls, among others, for:
- The current EU regime of price support and production subsidies to be dismantled.
- Direct payments to be decoupled from production and be subject to environmental and social conditions.
- Resources to be progressively transferred to the 2nd pillar of the CAP to pay for rural development and environmental protection schemes.
- Modulation, understood as money transfers from direct payments to rural development measures, to be compulsory for EU Member States.
- Labelling of environment friendly and socially aware production methods to be further encouraged.
- EU agreements on raising animal welfare standards.
In light of the recent Agriculture EU Council Meeting on 8 April 2003, EURO COOP believes it is even more important to stress the need for a reform in favour of an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable agriculture, taking into consideration the needs and demands of consumers for safe and healthy quality products while respecting the environment.
EURO COOP is the European Community of Consumer Co-operatives. Our primary objectives include representing to the EU institutions the interests of consumer co-operatives and their 20 million consumer-members across 15 European countries. For more information, visit our website.
See Position Papers EURO COOP's proposal on the CAP reform : "EURO COOP believes the CAP has to be deeply reformed".
For further information, contact:
Dónal WALSHE, Secretary General
or
Louise OUSTED OLSEN, Senior Adviser
Tel.: +32.(0)2.285.00.76 - Fax: +32.(0)2.231.07.57 - E-mail: Lousted_Olsen@eurocoop.org
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