We nevertheless welcome the speedy agreement which should enable a decision to be made on the new CAP by June and end the uncertainty facing farmers. Copa-Cogeca will be working hard in the coming months on the details of the CAP reform to ensure that farmers’ are economically viable. The future CAP must enable them to meet the challenges ahead through innovation and growth.
Reacting to the decision, Copa President Gerd Sonnleitner said “The current CAP costs less than 1% of total public expenditure yet it provides huge benefits for the EU citizens. Farmers are also confronted with increasing challenges, like climate change, rising input costs, market volatility and costly regulations which imports to the EU do not have to meet. It’s therefore more important than ever that measures to further green the CAP do not increase farmers’ costs or threaten production capacity. The EU Commission has proposed to reduce the amount of agricultural land available for production by 7%, as part of greening without any clear environmental benefit. With future food security under threat, this is irresponsible. I therefore welcome as a step in the right direction the European summit’s decision today to ensure that this does not result in land being taken out of production or lead to income losses for farmers. It is crucial that we maintain a viable agriculture sector which can continue to provide secure and stable supplies of food to the EU’s 500 million consumers”.
Cogeca President Christian Pees said “Extreme market volatility,together with unfair and abusive practices in the food chain, is having a serious impact on farmers and their cooperatives. . A strong CAP, with a good budget behind it, is essential to help stabilise markets and enable farmers and their cooperatives to get a better return from the marketplace. All the big super powers like the US, Brazil and China see their agriculture and agri-food sector as a key strategic sector and Europe must do the same”.
