The development interest in the CAP reform debate. Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, called last week for MEPs to take into account the impact on developing countries when voting on amendments to the draft CAP regulations post-2013 (see also here).
Among other issues, he called on MEPs to support the views of the European Parliament’s Development Committee, which voted unanimously in favour of a mechanism to monitor the CAP’s development impacts (look for Amendment 4 inserting a new Article 110(a)). In the voting last week, COMAGRI MEPs declined to do this. De Schutter had previously issued a report with some controversial recommendations on how this round of CAP reform could help to realise the right to food in developing countries. The limited role of development in the CAP debate Previous CAP reforms, together with the rise in world market food prices, mean that, even if the CAP is still not fully coherent with development objectives, its trade distorting impacts are now much less than before. Welcome to the Irish Presidency. Ireland took over the EU Presidency from 1 January 2013 and the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, will chair the Council of Agricultural Ministers for the next six months.
Coveney is an energetic Minister and the Irish have an experienced bunch of officials (see who’s who in the Irish delegation) who will do everything to ensure an agreement on CAP reform on their watch. Securing an agreement under the Irish Presidency is conceivable. But I am going to argue that the institutional decision-making process between the Council and the Parliament, as well as the linkage with the Multi-annual Frinancial Framework (MFF) negotiations, will make it extraordinarily difficult, even assuming that the European Council will reach an agreement on the next MFF at its next meeting on 7-8 February 2013.
In this post I discuss my understanding of the decision-making process (the ordinary legislative procedure, also known as co-decision) over the next six months. Reforming Europe's Common Agricultural Policy. Agriculture Policy. Reforming the EU’s Agricultural Policy. 24/06/2011 at 10:56 pm “The Common Agricultural Policy is regarded by some as one of the EU’s most successful policies, and by others as a scandalous waste of money.”BBC Q&A about the EU’s CAP The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the EU policy aiming to ensure a fair standard of living for farmers and to provide a stable and safe food supply at affordable prices for consumer in Europe.
At its beginning, some 50 years ago, the CAP aimed to boost agricultural production in post-war Europe, which it did very spectacularly, resulting in the infamous “butter mountain” and “milk lake” surpluses. Even now, nearly half of all EU funds – some €43 billion – is spent in the agricultural field, making the CAP by far the most policy area of the European project. Perspectives on the CAP2020 debate. I am currently in Brazil attending the 28th International Conference of Agricultural Economists. Yesterday, there was a well-attended session on “The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy after 2013: what is happening, what is likely to happen, and why?” Reform the CAP. Farm Policy: European Parliament, Council in CAP Reform Tug-of-War. Discuss this articleShare your views with other visitors, and read what they have to say European farm ministers and parliamentarians have locked horns during the past weeks over agricultural reform proposals in two separate meetings that are set to shape the future of Europe’s post-2013 farm policy.
Parliamentarians meeting on 18 and 19 June debated new proposals on direct payments to farmers that were recently unveiled by rapporteurs from the body’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI), along with other issues. Simultaneously, farm ministers in the European Council reviewed plans for the rural development dimension of the bloc’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), alongside the Danish presidency’s report on the reform process to date. “After several months of debate, Parliament’s proposals have been tabled for a modern and flexible Common Agricultural Policy to make farmers’ lives easier and cut red tape,” said COMAGRI chair Paolo de Castro.
Tug-of-war ICTSD reporting. Ireland to use EU Presidency to reform CAP - Simon Coveney. Hunger and Food Security. Developing countries views on trade and farming.