Concern over Sarkozy’s ‘farming fortress’

Mariann Fischer Boel, the European farm commissioner, has expressed concern that French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pledge to defend European farmers by favouring domestic products over imports could hurt the Union’s own exports.

In a speech in Rennes on Tuesday (11 September), Sarkozy said that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should be based on "a non-negotiable principle of community preference", which means favouring domestic EU produce over imports.

But a spokesman for Fischer Boel said that "it was not in our interests to become a fortress" because the EU was becoming a net exporter of agricultural products. "We see opportunities to export our high quality foods to expanding markets such as China and India," he said. The spokesman added that community preference could only be used "in accordance with our international obligations" in the World Trade Organization.

Commission President José Manuel Barroso welcomed Sarkozy’s speech, saying that it "showed the commitment of President Sarkozy to work for the reform of the CAP", which needed to adapt to new circumstances. "Prices are going up so it’s maybe a reason to have less subsidies," Barroso said.

In his speech Sarkozy said that he wanted to launch a debate under the French presidency of the EU in the second half of 2008 on reforming the CAP to give it "genuine legitimacy". But the speech presented a confusing mixture of different policy directions. On the one hand, he promised to free farmers of production constraints and bureaucracy. "I will not abandon farmers who do not want assistance, who don’t want to live with subsidies, who don’t want to be checked on the length of their animals’ hair," he said.

This could chime with Fischer Boel’s plans to end production constraints like set-aside for arable crops and milk quotas. In November Fischer Boel will launch a ‘health-check’ of farm support, which is expected to end production restraints and shift more spending away from direct support to farmers towards rural development.

But at the same time Sarkozy called for a tougher defence of EU producers through stricter environmental and labour standards. "We can no longer continue to impose on our agricultural enterprises environmental dumping, social dumping and monetary dumping," he said. But this would irritate the EU’s trade partners who could see it as renewed protectionism.

Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson warned against trying to bar imports using accusations of social dumping. "Social dumping is very close to saying developing countries are not allowed to take advantage of low-cost labour pools which is the root of their competitive advantage," he said yesterday (12 September).

Sarkozy’s pledge to overhaul the CAP came a day before the Commission launched a consultation for a review of the EU’s budget. Budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite˙ said the "no taboo" review would look at the CAP and the UK’s rebate. The consultation would be followed by proposals at the end of 2008 or early 2009.

Mariann Fischer Boel, the European farm commissioner, has expressed concern that French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pledge to defend European farmers by favouring domestic products over imports could hurt the Union’s own exports.