Common Agricultural Policy: the regions’ contribution
CRPM
© CRPM
- On: 23.10.2008
- In: Nantes
On 23 October in Nantes, France, the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) organised a debate on the future of the post-2013 European agriculture and food policy.
In a context marked by food, energy and ecological crises, the post-2013 CAP needs to adapt. This issue is all the more crucial because, as reiterated by CPMR President Claudio Martini, “agriculture is not like other markets: it feeds people and sustains regions”. It is therefore necessary to integrate the regions in the Community decision-making process.
The debate in Nantes on 23 October enabled the Presidents of Regional Councils, the Presidents of the Regions and members of agricultural organisations and farmers to share their points of view, in particular with Mariann Fischer-Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture, and Michel Barnier, the current President of the Council of European agriculture and fisheries ministers.
Among the ideas put forward, agreement was unanimous on one point, that of making European regional cohesion a priority of tomorrow’s food and agriculture policy. To that end, the European institutions were invited to continue as regulation instruments. On several occasions, participants requested that “the future CAP should remain European to ensure that production goes hand in hand growth and productivity, while guaranteeing product quality and protecting biodiversity.”
However, speaking on behalf of its 160 Member Regions, the CPMR proposed that responsibilities for regional policy be transferred to the Regions “because they are the best placed to react swiftly and effectively.” The aim: enhance the advantages of regions and balance aid by taking account of the handicaps of certain areas. The CPMR also invited the European institutions to form a permanent partnership, such as an annual meeting, which would root the Regions’ position in the community’s decision process.
While Michel Barnier underlined the “advantage of united action” and affirmed his wish to integrate the ideas of the Regions into the reflection process on the post-2013 CAP, Mariann Fischer-Boel firmly maintained that the CAP is a European project, on which the coordination of the twenty-seven Member States was already difficult. The European Commissioner also added that “Regionalisation would be tantamount to distortion.” Christiane Lambert, Vice-President of the Committee of farmers and their co-operatives in the European Union (COPA), suggested that certain forms of production required special attention, such as some ovine and beef meats “which must be globally managed”.
Farmers are caught between both possibilities and would like their voice to be heard. According to Marie-Thérèse Bonneau, a dairy farmer from the Vendée Region, “we need more flexible communication between the Regions representing the farmers, the Member States and Europe”. She pointed out however that excessive decentralisation would foster interregional competition, which could “deepen the disparities”.
- Updated: 25.11.2008
