As it stands, the legislative proposal on the future CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) is of concern to the European Committee of the Regions rapporteur Guillaume Cros (FR/Verts), as it tends to marginalise – or even undermine – the role and autonomy of the European regions in managing this EU policy, by simply charging them with implementing measures established at national level.
"The application of the new governance scheme proposed by the European Commission runs the risk of losing the wealth of management experience gained over the years in many European regions, thus making it impossible to outline the development of territorial systems and to grasp their local specificities," explains the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) rapporteur on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Guillaume Cros (FR/Greens), vice-president of the Occitan Region.
"The European Committee of the Regions calls for the key role played by Europe's regions in managing and implementing the CAP to be maintained and strengthened, especially for the second pillar, so as to bring policy options into line with specific territorial and sectoral characteristics," stresses Guillaume Cros.
The regulation proposed by the Commission made no provision for delegating the establishment of strategic regional plans to the regions, which limits the possibility of developing tailor-made programmes adapted to the situation on the ground, contrary to the objectives stated by the European Commission. The Parliament filled this gap with its vote on 23 October on the CAP Strategic Plans Regulation, and the European Committee of the Regions calls on the Council –of the European Union – the forum for the EU's Member States – to adopt the same position as the European Parliament.
The European Committee of the Regions regrets, however, the Parliament's lack of ambition in terms of bringing the CAP into line with the aims of the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy.
"We are calling for common quantified and measurable European targets for national strategic plans to be built into the regulation," Guillaume Cros adds.
Guido Milana (IT / PSE), CoR rapporteur
on the "From farm to Fork"
Strategy (to be adopted in December), regrets the Parliament's lack of ambition to
make the CAP consistent with the objectives of the Strategy "If the
ambitious quantified objectives of 'From farm to Fork' are not included in the
common agricultural policy, we are depriving ourselves of the means to achieve
our objectives. I therefore regret that our colleagues in the European
Parliament have rejected the amendments going in this direction. As the final
negotiations are being prepared, we call on the co-legislators to take these
commitments into account in order to ensure legal consistency with the Green
Deal ".
In its opinion on CAP reform, adopted on 5 December 2018, the European Committee of the Regions proposes five binding targets to be met by 2027, to apply to all the Member States:
1. A 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in each Member State;
2. Doubling compared with 2017 of the land area used for organic farming in the Member States, or at least 30% of the utilised agricultural area of the Member States;
3. Minimum 30% reduction compared with 2017 in the use of pesticides in the Member States;
4. A gradual and planned end to cage rearing throughout the European Union;
5. For 100% of surface water and groundwater to comply with the Nitrates Directive, without exemptions, in the Member States.
Further information:
CoR opinion on The CAP after 2020.
Contact:
Wioletta Wojewodzka
Tel. +32 2 282 22 89
wioletta.wojewodzka@cor.europa.eu