On the eve of the Council of Agriculture Ministers
meeting and the "super trilogue" on the common
agricultural policy (CAP), European regions flag up
their priorities for the future CAP
The European Committee of the Regions has asked the
Council and the Commission to fall in with the
European Parliament's positions on CAP governance
and common market organisation (CMO). It asked the
co-legislators to bring the CAP into line with the
Green Deal objectives and to step up EU
agricultural policy's environmental goals.
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has called
for the key role played by European regions in CAP
management and delivery to be kept up and even
bolstered, particularly as regards the second pillar,
so that policy choices can be tailored to what is going
on at local level.
Guillaume Cros (FR/Greens)
, Vice-president of the Occitanie region and CoR
rapporteur for CAP reform, explained that "
The new CAP governance system proposed by the
Commission could well cost us the wealth of
management experience built up over the years in
many European regions, meaning that we would no
longer have ready access to the ins and outs of
regional systems and the details of local life."
The European Committee of the Regions has asked the
Council and the Commission to fall in with the
proposals set out in the European Parliament's position
on CMO of 23 October 2020.
"
The reformed CMO must become an effective
instrument for stabilising agricultural markets
," said Guillaume Cros. The consultation on the CAP's
impact on territorial cohesion carried out by the CoR's
REGHUB network made it very clear that CMO is more
effective than the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development (EARDF) when it comes to overcoming the
social and economic challenges facing rural areas.
Juan Espadas (ES/PES)
, Mayor of Seville and chair of the CoR's
ENVE commission
and
Green Deal Going Local working group
, said that: "
As the work of our working group has shown, we will
only be able to achieve the objectives of the Green
Deal if all European policies contribute to the
ecological transition. This is why we support the
inclusion of the quantitative objectives of the
Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies in the CAP
strategic plans. To not leave anyone behind, the
CAP should also take better account of social
conditionality, as proposed by the European
Parliament
."
In order to limit any distortion of competition and
meet the Green Deal's objectives, the European
Committee of the Regions has asked firstly for the
objectives set for the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork
and Biodiversity strategies to be incorporated into the
Regulation on national strategic plans and secondly for
those objectives to be made binding, with all the
Member States required to meet them by 2027.
The
regional and local barometer
published by the
European Committee of the Regions
in October 2020 found that 33% of EU citizens want
regions and towns to have more influence on EU
agricultural and rural development policy.
For more information:
Contact:
Wioletta Wojewodzka
Tel. +32 (0)2 282 2289
Mobile: +32 (0)473 843 986
wioletta.wojewodzka@cor.europa.eu