March 19, 2021

The following is a press release:

On the eve of the Council of Agriculture Ministers meeting and the "super trilogue" on the common agricultural policy (CAP), European regions flag up their priorities for the future CAP

The European Committee of the Regions has asked the Council and the Commission to fall in with the European Parliament's positions on CAP governance and common market organisation (CMO). It asked the co-legislators to bring the CAP into line with the Green Deal objectives and to step up EU agricultural policy's environmental goals.

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has called for the key role played by European regions in CAP management and delivery to be kept up and even bolstered, particularly as regards the second pillar, so that policy choices can be tailored to what is going on at local level.

Guillaume Cros (FR/Greens), Vice-president of the Occitanie region and CoR rapporteur for CAP reform, explained that "The new CAP governance system proposed by the Commission could well cost us the wealth of management experience built up over the years in many European regions, meaning that we would no longer have ready access to the ins and outs of regional systems and the details of local life."

The European Committee of the Regions has asked the Council and the Commission to fall in with the proposals set out in the European Parliament's position on CMO of 23 October 2020.

"The reformed CMO must become an effective instrument for stabilising agricultural markets," said Guillaume Cros. The consultation on the CAP's impact on territorial cohesion carried out by the CoR's REGHUB network made it very clear that CMO is more effective than the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EARDF) when it comes to overcoming the social and economic challenges facing rural areas.

Juan Espadas (ES/PES), Mayor of Seville and chair of the CoR's ENVE commission and Green Deal Going Local working group, said that: "As the work of our working group has shown, we will only be able to achieve the objectives of the Green Deal if all European policies contribute to the ecological transition. This is why we support the inclusion of the quantitative objectives of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies in the CAP strategic plans. To not leave anyone behind, the CAP should also take better account of social conditionality, as proposed by the European Parliament."

In order to limit any distortion of competition and meet the Green Deal's objectives, the European Committee of the Regions has asked firstly for the objectives set for the Green Deal and the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies to be incorporated into the Regulation on national strategic plans and secondly for those objectives to be made binding, with all the Member States required to meet them by 2027.

The regional and local barometer published by the European Committee of the Regions in October 2020 found that 33% of EU citizens want regions and towns to have more influence on EU agricultural and rural development policy.

For more information:

Opinion on The CAP after 2020, rapporteur: Guillaume Cros (FR/Greens)

The European Parliament's position on CMO of 23 October 2020

Contact:

Wioletta Wojewodzka

Tel. +32 (0)2 282 2289

Mobile: +32 (0)473 843 986

wioletta.wojewodzka@cor.europa.eu