EU set to review agricultural policy

A ROOT and branch review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), will be launched by the European Commission in Brussels today.

Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel has repeatedly said over the past year that the Health Check for the €44 billion programme is not going to be a fundamental reform. But she has also indicated that cross-compliance will be back on the table and that its principles will not be watered down.

“These are essential if we want to keep public backing for the CAP. However, we could make the system work rather more smoothly,” she said.