Regional and local leaders shared with EU Commissioner Wojciechowski their call for fairer direct payments, market regulation, and tailored responses to regional and environmental challenges.
Local and regional leaders have endorsed a clear stance on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) sharing the proposals included in an opinion led by co-rapporteurs Piotr Calbecki (PL/EPP) and Isilda Gomes (PT/PES), adopted during the June plenary session of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), following a debate with Janusz Wojciechowski, European Commissioner for agriculture. The future of European agriculture has been a major political issue across the EU in recent months, with farmers staging significant protests in response to a variety of issues affecting the agricultural sector, including environmental regulations, rising costs, and trade policies.
The future of agriculture was at the heart of the European elections campaign, in response to the increasing mistrust of rural communities. During the debate, members of the CoR urged the future Commission to transform the CAP into an agricultural policy that is fair, sustainable and based on solidarity for the benefit of farmers, regions, consumers and citizens. They advocated for sustained EU funding to meet the various challenges faced by the agricultural sector as well as rural areas and for a more regionalised CAP.
In the opinion, regions and cities emphasise that a fair redistribution of direct payments for farmers is crucial in order to maintain agricultural activity in all geographical areas, slow down rural depopulation and the abandonment of land, and to tackle long-term challenges, such as maintaining jobs in remote rural areas and supporting sectors and farming practices that sustain livelihoods and landscapes. They also propose that aid per hectare be shifted to aid based on the labour intensity of farms and on compliance with environmental and social conditions, in order to avoid the desertification of rural areas and to better support small and medium-sized farms.
The CAP should support mitigation and adaptation to climate change and the fight against the sources of environmental pollution, with farmers being supported in the transition to sustainable farming.
Moreover, in order to improve and stabilise farmers’ revenues, the CoR calls for stronger market regulation, both internally and internationally. Farmers need fair and stable prices, which cannot be achieved without market regulation, strategic replenishment of stock, efforts to tackle unfair commercial practices, and mirror clauses in the past and future European trade agreements. The CAP must ensure that EU citizens have access to safe and ample food supplies, while safeguarding production capacity and consumer markets.
Finally, regional and local representatives call for regions to play a prominent role in the governance of the CAP, to better target interventions based on the specificities of the territories.
Quotes:
Piotr Całbecki, President of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region: “Our opinion addresses the needs of farmers from across EU regions and takes into account the functioning of family-owned, small, and medium-sized farms, the role of cohesion funds for the development of rural areas and the involvement of the representatives of European farmers and local and regional authorities in the reform of CAP. I am glad that we managed to develop an opinion beyond political divisions thanks to the active participation of a vast number of stakeholders and meetings with hundreds of farmers. The newly elected members of the European Parliament will receive our opinion immediately after their appointment, to seek support for our recommendations on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy.”
Arno Kompastcher, President of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano said that " The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) faces unknown challenges and must provide support for small farmers, small-scale operations and mountain farming. Farmers and producers in specific situations, such as those affected by large-scale hunting in mountain grazing, face practices that risk disappearing, with the consequence that this entails in the protection of the landscape. It is crucial to continue to protect mountain landscapes to avoid dangerous situations, abandonment and exodus from these areas. The CAP must protect smaller farmers."
Egbert Van Dijk, Regional Minister of the Province Drenthe highlighted that "The recent events all over Europe are showing that our farmers are facing a very difficult financial challenge. We need solutions that are revolutionary compared to what is included in the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) now. For example, the regionalisation of the CAP together with regional strategies funded by different sources are needed. Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) have a great interest in agriculture. We are working with the farmers to lay the new foundations of the future CAP. We are the closest level of government to the farmers, hence my appeal is for the European Commission and the European Parliament to take this into when deciding on the new CAP."
"We expect the new CAP to take into account the needs of rural areas as a whole, because without agriculture, there are no dynamic rural areas, and without dynamic rural areas, there will no longer be farmers." added Thibaut Guignard, Mayor of Plœuc-l’Hermitage.
Celia Alberto Perez, Director-General for European Affairs of the Government of the Canary Islands said " In the Canary Islands, as in other outermost regions, the CAP has been applied differently. The current budget, despite its previous success, is clearly insufficient in the face of the brutal increase in direct costs, which has directly influenced the loss of agricultural and livestock areas. Additionally, the population has rapidly increased, leading to self-sufficiency issues. We call for the application of mirror clauses to imports from third countries and for increased measures to encourage the incorporation of young farmers to ensure generational renewal."
" In Andalusia, our economy is closely connected with the agricultural system and our society. We face deep challenges and focus on four main areas: making decisions based on science and validated studies, achieving greater coherence between policies and social reality, advancing complementarity with other policies and funds, and reconciling agricultural interests with the Green Deal. Instead of limiting water use, we should promote responsible use." said José Enrique Millo Rocher, Secretary General for External Action, European Union and Cooperation, Government of Andalusia.
Francisca Ramis Pons, Director-General for Institutional Relations and Relations with the Parliament added that "The CAP throughout its 60 years of history, has actively contributed to the cohesion of rural areas, ensuring viable and sustainable agricultural activity in all territories of the European Union. However, the CAP must take into account, through its support instruments, the agricultural development factors related to the natural and specific limitations of different regions, especially islands and mountainous areas. Furthermore, the future CAP must echo the recent demands of the sector and ensure that agricultural activity can develop under viable conditions in all territories of the European Union, achieving adequate returns for all those involved in the production chain."
"We understand that it is not easy, but we must invest all necessary efforts and resources to ensure that the CAP responds to the needs of All territories of the EU, adhering to the same criteria that support a sustainable, competitive, resilient, and diversified agricultural sector, while simultaneously guaranteeing food security. In this regard, we cannot ignore the specificity and special vulnerability to climate change in southern Europe, with a significant increase in the risk of desertification in these regions. " said Adrián Ariel Zitteli Ferrari, Director-General for European Union Affairs for the Region of Murcia - Regional Assembly of Murcia :
Pavel Gudzherov, Member of a Local Executive holding an electoral mandate: Rakovski Municipality said: "We fully support the notion of support for the CAP. Concerning local development and infrastructure we face a delay of three years in Bulgaria due to misunderstandings in-between the relevant authorities. This means our LRAs are waiting for millions of Euros that they cannot use yet. Furthermore, we need to support the income security of our farmers. We all want stability and sustainability."
"The CAP does influence the life of our young farmers. Croatia is a country where people still can live well from agriculture. EU Bureaucrats must not take the decisions. We have to listen to our young people who want to be farmers." added Bruno Hranic, Mayor of the Municipality of Vidovec.