CAP Reform: Giving farmers and the various farming sectors the means to tackle upcoming challenges / 19-06-2012

On Monday 18 June, Members of the Agriculture Committee debated the draft reports tabled by Giovanni La Via MEP (financing, management and monitoring of the CAP) and Michel Dantin MEP (establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products) on CAP reform.

In his proposal, Michel Dantin takes note of the 'safety net' principle which is now applied to intervention mechanisms on the markets, but he is not in favour of abandoning all forms of market regulation.

"If the new global context now prevents public authorities from making massive and recurring interventions in the agricultural market on a daily basis, this evolution can under no circumstances, however, lead to the complete abandonment of all forms of management of this sector. It is essential that producers and stakeholders from the different farming chains have the means to take over public regulation. This will require a strengthening of the role and negotiating power of producer organisations, as well as a broadening of the mission of representative organisations," said Michel Dantin, who also proposes to expand the formal contract system to all sectors.

"But the condition for this is that, in the field, these different organisations' missions are correctly and effectively met. This requires an in-depth reflection on competition law and on its application to agriculture, which remains mainly national and does not generally take into account the specific nature of the agricultural and food sector. This leads sometimes to a breach in the smooth functioning of the Internal Market, which puts a brake on initiatives taken by farmers to create clusters and increase their negotiating power on the markets," he continued.

Finally, Michel Dantin firmly committed to maintaining plantation rights, extending sugar quotas and creating an alternative tool for the regulation of milk production.

(Portal Europe)