EPP Ramona Mănescu has emphasized on Monday her support for EPP Group’s political position for a Common Agricultural Policy budget that defends both farmers and consumers.
There is a need for funding to address the new challenges and concerns of farmers and consumers in terms of sustainable agriculture, both environmentally and financially, says EPP Group, a a position that Ramona Manescu argues for.
In May, the European Parliament voted for a resolution that sets out the priorities for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for after 2020. The post-2020 EU farm policy must be smarter, simpler, fairer and more sustainable, but also well financed and truly common, MEPs say in a document voted by 468 votes in favour to 123 against, with 89 abstentions.
EU member states should be able to adapt the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to their needs, MEPs say. But they reject any “renationalisation” of the CAP, which they say, could distort competition in the single market. The CAP must be based on a common set of EU objectives, rules, tools and checks, they insist. Member states should then design their national strategies tailored to their needs. While the future EU farming policy should foster performance rather than compliance, farming activities in all member states should be subject to the same high EU standards and their breach should trigger similar penalties, MEPs say.
On 29 November 2017, the Commission issued a new communication on the future of food and farming. The communication places an emphasis on sustainable development, the preservation of natural resources and the need to ensure generational renewal. On the subject of the latter, the communication invites Member States to devise programmes reflecting the needs of their young farmers and proposes that access for young farmers to financial instruments to support farm investments and working capital be simplified. Finally, the communication sets out a new series of priorities, with a focus on rural value chains in areas such as clean energy, the emerging bio-economy, the circular economy and eco-tourism.
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