THIRD REPORT
The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee
has agreed to the following
Report:
THE MID-TERM REVIEW OF THE COMMON AGRICULTURAL
POLICY
CAP Reform: the debate
}let us be
proud of building together an agricultural policy that meets our
vision for our European civilisation. This is what we call our
European model of agriculture~
-
from a letter to the Financial Times from the ministers
of agriculture of six
European Union Member States and the minister from Wallonia.[1]
}The average
EU cow currently receives more than $2 a day in support from EU
governments. That is more than the income of half the world's
population~
-
Julian Filochowski, Director, Cafod.[2]
}[France]
does not subscribe to the view that the CAP and agricultural policies
constitute obstacles to the development of poor countries and
for this reason should be eliminated or, at the very least, greatly
modified~
-
Hervè Gaymard, French agricultural minister.[3]
}We have
now the chance to continue this way [of adapting the CAP] and
to make the future safer. We should not miss this opportunity.
We must not wait until the events overtake us and the scope, which
we have, gets tighter. The new WTO round has already started.
In the next months the first accession negotiations will be completed.
In the second half of next year the discussion on the future orientation
of the Structural Funds begins. And in the year 2004 the debate
about the financial framework from 2007 to 2013 will start~
-
Franz Fischler, European Commissioner for Agriculture.[4]
}It is more
necessary than ever to make good use of the resources available
to preserve the diversity of farming systems spread throughout
Europe and promote the sustainable, quality oriented agriculture
that citizens and consumers want. Today I am convinced more than
ever, that there is a broad consensus about the objectives of
the midterm review. We need more resources for rural development,
we need to give our farmers a simpler, more flexible, more efficient
system of income support. Of course, there are differences in
views about how and when these objectives should be achieved~
-
Franz Fischler.[5]
}Mr Chirac,
do not insult the world of peasants. The Franco/German agreement
on the agricultural policy, concluded on 24 October - which is
bad arithmetic - the details on the budget, puts an immense responsibility
on you. The decision to set a ceiling on expenses of the Common
Agricultural Policy between 2006 and 2013 at the level reached
in 2006 will mean that the European Union has to spend the same
sum for 25 Member States as it now spends on 15. This decision
to put a ceiling on agricultural expenditure, if it is not followed
by radical changes of the orientation of the Common Agricultural
Policy, will be a very heavy consequence for the peasants in Europe,
the 15, and even more so for those who are going to join from
central and eastern Europe~
-
Christian Boisgontier, José Bové and Nicolas Duntze,
Le Monde, 20 November 2002.
1 CAP is some thing that we can proud of, letter
to the Financial Times, 23 September 2002 (p.22) from Fernand
Boden (Luxembourg), Miguel Arias Canete (Spain), Armando José
Cordeiro Sevinate Pinto (Portugal), Hervé Gaymard (France),
José Happart (Wallonia, Belgium), Wilhelm Molterer (Austria)
and Joe Walsh (Ireland). Back
2
EU cows richer than half the world's population, letter
to the Financial Times, 25 September 2002 (p.22). Back
3
France adamant over opposing CAP reform, Financial Times,
8 January 2003 (p.8). Back
4
Speaking points, Council debate on midterm review,
Council of Agriculture, Brussels, 23 September 2002. Back
5
Outcome of the Agri/Fisheries Council of 27-28 November 2002;
see www.europa.eu.int. Back
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