Aguilera calls for a CAP wich solves the deregulation of the European agri-food sector
Socialist MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, Clara Aguilera, has called for a reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to end one of the main problems of the European agri-food sector, deregulation, in the course of a day celebrated the 3th of February in the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA).
Aguilera: “Deregulation has led to a primary sector unable to cope with the problem of price volatility, unprotected by unfair trade practices, especially by the concentration of large-scale distribution, and for which any attempt to reorganize collides with the Law of Competition”
Faced with this, Aguilera has opted for strengthening the position of farmers and ranchers in the value chain with the creation of a European Law of the value chain, “this will be one of our main demands,” he said. “We have taken a quarter of a century by bringing the CAP closer to the market and fitting the consequences of the successive deregulation of the CAP, and it is time to put an end to it.”
Although a European food chain standard is an important step in laying the foundations for the farmer to begin to receive what he deserves, Aguilera nevertheless warns that it will not be enough, as long as drastic measures are not taken against unfair competition from third countries and the aging of agriculture in general. Thus, Aguilera has called for redoubling efforts against unfair competition in international markets, with standards different from the European. “Our political action must be directed to demand that imports from third countries to the EU have the same requirements and requirements as European productions”, she said.
According to the Socialist MEP, firm actions such as greater border controls and the maximum quality requirement for imports are necessary to encourage the farmer to continue to produce and promote generational change, otherwise the field will continue to suffer from the abandonment of the agrarian activity. In this regard, Aguilera points out that in the Region of Valencia the average age of the farmer is 62 years.
Finally, she reiterated the commitment of the socialists to do what is necessary to strengthen the European agro-food sector, and in particular, the Spanish. “We are going to continue betting on the competitiveness and the sustainability of the resources, with innovation and investigation to consolidate our agrarian sector and agroalimentario”, has assured.
Source: Press Office of the European Parliament
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