Deadline for public debate on future of CAP extended by popular demand
By Ray Ryan, Agribusiness Correspondent
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
THE public debate being conducted by the European Commission on the future of the Common Agriculture Policy has been extended until this coming Friday by popular demand.
Submissions were to have been submitted by June 3 but the deadline was extended to June 11 because of a number of requests and the large number of website contributions.
Over 3,700 responses from across the EU have already been received by the Commission as part of the consultation process announced in April by Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Dacian Ciolos. When the debate closes, external experts will prepare an analysis of the responses, to be presented at a July 19/20 conference in Brussels, which will have a wider look at the future of the CAP.
Mr Ciolos told EU farm ministers at an informal meeting in Spain last week it is important the future CAP stimulates a multi-functional role, leading to competivity, not only economic but also environmental and social.
"We must combine economic competitiveness with environmental sustainability. In economic terms, the EU is the world’s largest exporter, but we should not forget that only 10% of global agricultural production is traded on world markets. The rest is for regional or local markets. It is important that our policy allows us to maintain this diversity, and allows our farmers to express their own competitiveness. Our current policy has not yet done enough in that respect," he said.
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith told the same meeting the future CAP must support farm incomes and address the issue of price and income volatility while avoiding market distortions.
"We must make sure that the CAP of the future encourages competitiveness and innovation through appropriate measures, including support for farm investment," he said.
