On the occasion of the EU Budget discussions among Head of States at the EU Summit today and tomorrow in Brussels, SEO/Birdlife and WWF Spain are calling on the President of Spain, Mariano Rajoy, to defend a CAP budget that will take them out of crisis and support the sustainable economic, social and environmental aims that Spain has proposed.
The environmental NGOs are pointing out that although the recent proposals submitted by the European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, may include some interesting ideas regarding the fight against climate change, as far as the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) is concerned they contain several worrisome elements. See a previous article for more information.
The NGOs state that there should be more support for long-term rural development policies, as that way the Member States would have a better return for every invested euro and more options to get out of the crisis. The funds invested towards a more sustainable CAP would allow the crisis in rural areas to be tackled.
They suggest that for the next negotiation period, Spain should not focus only on the question of financial loss or gain, but also on where the funds are going. Although SEO/BirdLife and WWF Spain recognise the need for certain budgetary adjustments in the era we are going through, in order to optimise the cost and quality, they propose the elimination of harmful subsidies, as well as the redirection of aid for the benefit of all citizens.
In order to bring these proposals to the Heads of States, the environmental NGOs have launched a pan-european campaign “No more blank checks for unsustainable agriculture” mobilising EU citizens to send a message to their Prime Minister to defend a CAP budget with sustainability criteria and for the general interest of Europeans.