EU farming reform 'beneficial to all': Commissioner
(BUCHAREST) - EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos on Monday dismissed criticism of his planned reform of the European bloc's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), saying the overhaul will be "beneficial to all."
"The proposed reform is perfectible, but what matters is not to abandon the European spirit," Ciolos told a press conference in Bucharest.
"We must above all not turn the CAP into a shop where everybody buys only what they want," he added.
Among proposals to rethink the CAP, which traditionally accounts for about 40 percent of the bloc's annual spending of nearly 140 billion euros ($190 billion), is a call for 30 percent of EU direct farm subisidies to be conditional on respect for the environment.
The reform also aims at capping payouts to farmers, with highly-mechanised large farms likely to be hardest hit.
Germany, the Netherlands and Britain strongly oppose this measure on the grounds it could lead to a carve-up of large farms.
Ciolos said that capping payouts did not mean large farms would no longer receive subsidies, but only that "funds would be spent in a more transparent way."
He added that countries having so far drawn most benefits from EU aid should not be angry that they have to share the farming budget with the new members "who were not at the table" in the earlier days of the EU.
"There will be no losers in this process and I hope that in the end everyone will win, both the farming sector and taxpayers, who will get better produce and lower prices."
Ciolos also brushed aside criticism from EU newcomers, like his native Romania, who complain that their new quotas will still be far behind the older members', despite an increase.
"Trying to close the gap faster could make some countries turn down the reform as a whole," he said, stressing the difficulty of finding the right balance.
"My target is to have a common agricultural policy and not 27 national policies."
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