Divisions deepen over CAP reform

Officials from EU member states will meet in Brussels on Monday (11 February) to discuss reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) amid deepening division over how much protection and financial support the EU should give farmers.

The EU is discussing agricultural reforms as part of what the Commission described as a "health check" of the CAP. On the basis of that assessment, the Commission is to publish legislative proposals in May on further reform. According to one EU source familiar with discussions, early meetings have shown "a major divergence of views" between member states, with disagreements both about the overall ambition of the policy and on the details of abolishing market interventions.

The European Commission proposed last November further reducing the link between how much farmers produce and how much financial support they receive from the CAP - a reduction known as decoupling. In a recent interview with European Voice Mariann Fischer Boel, the European commissioner for agriculture, said that decoupling should go "as far as possible" and added that "there is no reason to maintain a coupled payment in the cereals sector". The Commission is to conduct impact assessments to look at abolishing market supports in the market for oats and barley. But the Commission supports exemptions for some meat producers, where production is deemed to be of economic importance.

The UK and Denmark are in favour of more de-coupling, but France is leading other countries which are reluctant to give up market interventions. France argues that market-management tools are relevant to ensuring food security and managing other risks such as animal disease and climate change.

A French official said that there should be "some kind of mechanisms put in place to manage climate change risks and sanitary risks". The official said that these mechanisms could be subsidies and quotas, but added that other options were being considered and that it was too early to pre-judge the outcome.

France is criticising the Commission for failing to produce proposals on crisis management. Last month Michael Barnier, France’s farm minister, said that the absence of such a proposal was a "weakness" in the Commission’s approach. Fischer Boel responded that it was a "strength" that it had not presented a "fixed proposal" but has "left it open for discussion with stakeholders and the member states". She said that she favoured an insurance scheme financed through contributions from member states and EU rural development policy.

The Special Committee on Agriculture - the officials who prepare meetings of the Council of agriculture ministers - will discuss these issues when it meets on Monday.

Disagreements are also likely to run over the weight given to rural development policy - the so-called second pillar of the CAP. Fischer Boel said: "Agriculture is more than just producing food, it is also about protection of the environment and protection of the beautiful areas we have in Europe."

Several countries including France, Spain, Ireland, Austria and Portugal are concerned that supporting rural development will be at the expense of the market supports and subsidies (the first pillar). French officials say that they want to see a stronger emphasis on food security.

France takes over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU in July and is aiming for a political agreement on the health check in November.

Officials from EU member states will meet in Brussels on Monday (11 February) to discuss reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) amid deepening division over how much protection and financial support the EU should give farmers.