Six countries sign a common Ministerial Declaration against cuts in the CAP

The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment, Isabel García Tejerina, met today, at the headquarters of the Department, with the Ministers of Agriculture of France, Stéphane Travert, of Portugal, Luis Capoulas, of Ireland, Michael Creed, the Secretary of State of Finland, Jari Partanen and the Secretary of Agriculture of Greece, Charalampos Kasimis, to agree a common declaration in defense of an adequate financing of the PAC.

At this meeting, a ministerial declaration on the multiannual financial framework and the Common Agricultural Policy was agreed on 11 points, in which the countries are

1- EMPHASIZE that the Common Agricultural Policy contributes to the European Union being one of the main agricultural powers of the world. Thanks to the CAP, the EU offers a secure solution for agricultural products that meets the closest sanitary and environmental standards, at reasonable costs, which allows European products to be competitive in international trade.

2- FIND OUT that the European agricultural and agri-food sector, being open to international markets, is exposed to the increase in the volatility of world prices.

3- CONSIDER that the Common Agricultural Policy should continue to be oriented towards markets, but BE AWARE that support for EU agriculture helps to limit the effects of price volatility and reduces the incidence of external factors in vulnerable agricultural markets . .is

4- FIND OUT that the mechanisms to achieve balance in the CAP have a direct effect on farmers’ incomes, which are still lower than those of other sectors. In this context, they REMEMBER that the CAP is the first red of safety for farmers.

5- UNDERLINES that European agriculture must face new challenges, mainly in view of society’s great expectations, particularly in terms of the environment, the fight against climate change, the protection of biodiversity and health, which reinforces the need for an ambitious reform of the available instruments of the CAP.

6- AFFIRM that the role of the European Union is essential to support this necessary transformation of agricultural holdings, so that they can face these challenges, develop their resilience, increase their competitiveness, and guarantee the generational changeover.

7- INSIST on the need to guarantee fair competition among the Member States and to achieve a fair balance between, on the one hand, the common objectives and tools, and on the other, the necessary flexibility in their national application. A common level of conditionality should be established, so as to reflect the major objectives of the CAP when granting aid. The challenges of simplification of both pillars, and in particular conditionality, will have to be given maximum attention.

8- INSIST that the CAP allows to maintain an agricultural activity in all the territories of Europe. In this way, it contributes to the vitality of rural areas, including outermost regions and islands, and to European integration.

9 – deeply regret that the Commission has proposed, for the future multi-annual financial framework 2021-2027, a reduction of the budget for the CAP.

10- RECALL that this decrease in both pillars would represent an unprecedented risk for the viability of European farms, for farmers’ incomes and for their ability to cope with the demands of the population for a healthy, sustainable, affordable diet and of quality.

11- REQUEST to increase the budget of the CAP to its current level of EU-27, in order to be able to successfully respond to the economic, environmental, climate change and health challenges under both pillars.

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