Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Seventeenth Report

4 Other issues

Changes to EU decision making

48. One of the principal aims of the EU's draft constitutional treaty is to streamline decision-making processes in an enlarged EU. If the draft treaty is ratified by all 25 Member States, it will hand greater powers to the European Parliament on agricultural policy matters, under the co-decision procedure.[58] While sharing responsibility between the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament should increase transparency and accountability, the need for agreement will inevitably slow the speed with which legislation can be made.

49. The Minister expressed unease about the extension of co-decision to agriculture. He described the Agriculture Committee in the European Parliament as one of the "least progressive elements within the European equation, in terms of agricultural reform".[59] He explained that his opposition to co-decision was tactical, rather than being based on fundamental principles, but he clearly felt it represented a potential impediment to further policy change. [60]

50. We share the Minister's reservations about co-decision in agriculture, particularly with respect to the increased role of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee in decision-making. We fear that co-decision will introduce another layer of resistance to the decision-making process, reducing the pace and extent of reform. We regard it as important that the European Parliament's increased responsibility in agricultural policy-making should not be dominated by what the Minister so strikingly described to us as one of the least progressive elements of the EU, the Agriculture Committee. We share his concerns and urge the UK Government to continue to push for further agricultural reform.

Future challenges

Further CAP reform

51. For the CAP itself, the absorption of ten new countries is a significant and unpredictable challenge at a time when it is undergoing a major reform.[61] Given the striking differences between them, the NMS are unlikely to speak with one voice when it comes to deciding future agricultural policies.

52. The NFU argues that enlargement means that a "coalition of Germany and France should be much less able to set the course for Europe" in terms of agricultural policy, with many of the New Members, "for historical reasons [being] reluctant to be dominated by their bigger neighbours".[62]

53. There is real danger that the political decision-making process will be gridlocked as a consequence of enlargement, to the extent that there will be no qualified majority to move away from the status quo. More so than before, further CAP reform will be dependent on external shocks to the system in the form of multilateral trade agreements.[63]

Burden on the EU budget

54. All the NMS are expected to be net beneficiaries of the EU budget. Enlargement will therefore place an increasing financial burden on those countries who are currently net-contributors to the budget. Future budget negotiations, including the financing of the CAP, may well become increasingly difficult.[64] The agricultural burden on the budget is likely to be further exacerbated with the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, two relatively poor and agrarian countries.

55. Consequently, it is inevitable that finite budgetary resources will be spread increasingly thinly across an enlarged Europe. As EU membership grows to 25 and beyond, the need for structural and cohesive funds will compete more fiercely against demands for agricultural support. The longer-term effect can be only in the direction of reduced agricultural support for farmers in longer-standing EU Member States such as the UK.

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58   Farm policy is currently determined by the consultation procedure, which gives the EU farm ministers the final decision after hearing the European Parliament's opinion on the matter under discussion. Back

59   Q 227 Back

60   Q 229 Back

61   "EU enlargement: taking stock as history beckons", Agra Europe, 23 April 2004, A/2 Back

62   National Farmers' Union, EU Enlargement: The Challenge for British Farming, (London, 2004), p 22 Back

63   Christian Henning and Uwe Latacz-Lohmann, "Will enlargement gridlock CAP reforms? A political economy perspective", EuroChoices, vol 3 (2004), pp 38-43 Back

64   Ev 70 Back

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Prepared 22 October 2004