Last Friday, the 13th July, an alliance of French and German environmental protection, animal welfare, agriculture, development and consumer protection organisations published a joint statement addressing their respective agricultural ministers. Julia Klöckner and Stéphane Travert agreed to present a joint declaration to the European Council today on the CAP reform. Such a statement has not materialised and in its place is one articulated by civil society.
The statement is coordinated by Pour Une Autre PAC and the Verbände-Plattform zur EU-Agrarpolitik, the respective French and German association networks for agricultural policy. It emphasises a fear that EU-level targets are not ambitious enough, leading to a race-to-the-bottom in the strategic plans of Member States.
The alliance calls on the ministers to:
- support ambitious EU-wide environmental and social targets, mandatory for all CAP funding and measures. Farmers should be rewarded for specific service provision in environmental, nature protection and animal welfare under the ‘public money for public goods’ ethos.
- prevent the Commission’s proposed reduction of funding for Pillar 2, to safeguard the agri-environmental and rural development programmes therein.
- ensure that the proposed Eco-Scheme, the new environmental measure to be financed by direct payments, be mandatory and used to fund specific services in all Member States.
- prevent the promotion of risk management and instead promote risk minimisation through farm diversification, climate and biodiversity protection measures and increasing soil fertility.
- support the first hectare surcharge to assist small and medium-sized farms
- support EU-level intervention such as temporary measures to limit size of agricultural sector, in order to prevent market crises
- support clear CAP regulations which prevent negative effects of EU exports and imports on regional and local markets, the environment and income potential in the Global South
To read the full declaration
To contact the organisers
Plateforme Pour une autre PAC
Coordinator: Aurélie CATALLO,
47 avenue Pasteur, 93100 Montreuil, France,
Tel.: +33 (0)1 80 89 99 51,
mobil: +33 (0)6 17 40 54 70,
aurelie.catallo@pouruneautrepac.eu
Verbände-Plattform zur EU-Agrarpolitik
Coordinating team: Silvia Bender & Christian Rehmer,
BUND/Friends of the Earth Germany, Am Köllnischen Park 1, 10179 Berlin,
Tel.: +49 (0)30 275 86-473, christian.rehmer@bund.net,
Lutz Ribbe, Euronatur, Tel.: 02226-2045, lutz.ribbe@euronatur.org
Ulrich Jasper, AbL, Tel.: 02381-9053171, jasper@abl-ev.de
