Phil Hogan – Photo EC
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Commission opened a 12-week public consultation on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy Thursday, with the CAP facing key challenges of food security and sustainable development.
Modernising and simplifying the CAP – one of the European Union’s most long-standing policies – will allow it to better respond to today’s social, political, environmental and economic challenges, says the EU executive.
Contributions from the consultation will help the EU define agricultural policy priorities for the future. The Commission is looking to modernise and simplify the CAP in order to address farming’s key challenges and at the same time to contribute to the EU’s policy priorities such as jobs and growth, sustainable development, and a budget focused on results, simplification and subsidiarity.
Announcing the consultation process, EU Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan said: “Today we are taking the next steps towards modernising and simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy for the 21st Century. By launching this public consultation, we are asking all stakeholders and those interested in the future of food and farming in Europe to participate in shaping a policy for all the people of Europe.
The public consultation will run for 12 weeks and gives farmers, citizens, organisations and any other interested parties the opportunity to have their say on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Input from the consultation will be used by the Commission to help draft a Communication, due by the end of 2017 that it plans will include conclusions on the current performance of the Common Agricultural Policy and potential policy options for the future based on reliable evidence.
This is an opportunity for fundamental reform, said the European Environmental Bureau’s Policy Manager for Agriculture and Bioenergy Faustine Bas-Defossez: “It’s time to move away from wasteful farming which is damaging to the environment, people, and farmers themselves. EU farm policy should only support those farmers who go the extra mile to farm in an environmentally friendly way. For a farm to be able to continue producing nutritious food in the long run, it needs healthy soil, clean water and insects to pollinate its crops.”
The results of the public consultation will be published online and presented by Commissioner Hogan at a conference in Brussels in July 2017.
Consultation on modernising and simplifying the common agricultural policy (CAP)
