Copa & Cogeca:
"EU: "Adequately financed CAP also needed in the future"
The move came as the issue was being debated by Ministers and after the Commission released a public consultation on this. In a high-level meeting with the Maltese Presidency, Cogeca President Thomas Magnusson said “Copa and Cogeca call for a strong, common and adequately financed CAP that supports farmers in continuing to provide safe, quality nutritious food produced in a sustainable manner to citizens in the EU and in non-EU countries. The CAP must ensure a strong, economically viable and competitive agricultural sector for the benefit of consumers and farmers alike”.
“We need a policy that farmers can use in a simple, non-bureaucratic manner. We underline the importance of maintaining both pillars of the CAP. We need to keep current measures to cope with market volatility – direct payments, market safety nets and risk insurance. These measures need to be speedier both in their activation and in their results. The past few years have also shown us that more is needed including more tools for farmers better manage risk and the development of futures markets. Risk management must be further developed in a future CAP to deal with not only climatic risks but also market risks. We are currently finalising our views on this policy area, but it is clear that whatever tools are put in place they need to be voluntary and remain in the second pillar of the CAP”, he explained.
Mr Magnusson also underlined the need for production to be sustainable and to meet consumer demands for quality. “A strong CAP is a guarantee for consumers to have quality produce”, he insisted.
Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen went on to highlight the importance of strengthening farmers position in the food supply chain, saying that it is something that Copa and Cogeca have been calling for a number of years. “We want to underline the good outcome of the EU Agricultural Markets Task Force, especially on unfair trading practices (UTPs) in the supply chain, and the December 2016 EU Council conclusions. We fully support the need to have an EU wide framework to address UTPs. The problem is farmers don’t get sufficient income from the market. Exports have increased but farmers are not really seeing the benefits of it. That’s why the Slovak Presidency needed to push for Council conclusions on this. They are being squeezed out of their own market. It is important to address this”, he stressed.
Wrapping up, Mr Pesonen drew attention to the importance of the new EU animal welfare platform which enables key stakeholders to exchange information. The platform should focus on ensuring proper implementation and harmonisation of existing EU rules rather than creating new legislation. He emphasised the need to bring our high welfare standards to the international arena and to avoid European farmers being hit unfairly by competition from imports from many non-EU countries who do not have to meet these high standards.
The Maltese Secretary of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights Roderick Galdes thanked Copa & Cogeca for our comments which touched upon the need to have a strong CAP with more focus on risk management tools, saying that “risk management tools are important for the challenges farmers face”.
For more information:
Copa Cogeca
www.copa-cogeca.eu