EU lawmakers back CAP budget status quo

German MEP Albert Dess (European People's Party), the European Parliament's rapporteur on CAP reform, said that "with an increasing world population and the challenges we are facing in order to protect our environment and climate, we need to continue with a competitive and sustainable EU agricultural policy in the future".

"The CAP must retain its capacity to supply the European population with high-quality and affordable food after 2013, as well as protect the environment. For that, our farmers need fair compensation," Dess said.

Agriculture committee chair Paolo De Castro MEP (Socialists & Democrats; Italy) described the vote as "the outcome of a lengthy work process that, as usual, involved all the political groups and has now set out the main principles to govern the new CAP," namely objective criteria for payments including employment, a new "green" element, more flexibility for member states and a dedicated budget line in the event of market crises.

MEP Luis Capoulas Santos (S&D; Portugal) said his group welcomed "the greening and new criteria for the attribution of direct aid, which enhance the role of farmers and legitimise the CAP to society".

French MEP Stéphane Le Foll (S&D) stressed that "farming is about far more than crops and livestock. We all benefit from its role in maintaining the environment and protecting animal welfare. It gives the EU safe supplies of food at reasonable prices and it creates jobs and growth".

"Paying farmers simply according to how much land they have cannot be justified because it is a system that does not ensure that EU subsidies go to real farmers and to those who really work towards the EU policy's goals. Other criteria need to be taken into account, including the environment and the number of jobs each farmer creates," Le Foll added.

British MEP George Lyon (Liberal Democrats) said that his ALDE group "will continue to argue that driving competiveness through innovation, further greening of the CAP, and fairer distribution through targeted payments will secure a sustainable future for European agriculture".

EU farmers' lobby Copa-Cogeca welcomed lawmakers' demands for continuation of a strong sustainable CAP, and the maintenance of its budget. Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen also welcomed the committee's support for keeping two pillars of the CAP, "with food security remaining the main goal". 

Agriculture is well placed to make a major contribution to tackling climate change, while creating new jobs and supplying renewable energy "are realistic, though ambitious, objectives," Pesonen said.

He said it was crucial for the future CAP to provide a "stable framework for farmers through the maintenance of direct payments and measures which ensure well functioning markets and encouraging efficient viable farm businesses". 

"This is also why it is important to ensure that moves to further 'green' the CAP do not raise costs for farmers," Pesonen added.

The European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA) welcomed the Dess report's "greater focus on young farmers" to ensure generational renewal in EU agriculture.

CEJA welcomes measures such installation aid for young farmers under the second pillar and gearing national reserves more to young farmers, but "we maintain our call for measures in both Pillar I and Pillar II of the CAP to truly prioritise generational renewal," said CEJA President Joris Baecke.