Convention: Call for a Common Agricultural and Rural Policy

The AgriCultural Convention has called on the European Convention to lay the foundations of a Common Agricultural and Rural Policy in the treaties, and to ensure democratic accountability in current and future decision-making.

The AgriCultural Convention expressed “serious concerns about the negative side effects of the current CAP, and particularly its centrally controlled productivist focus”. The AgriCultural Convention made proposals on two constitutional areas:

• decision-making;
• the establishment of a new Common Agricultural and Rural Policy (CARP), with the emphasis on Rural.

The AgriCultural Convention made four recommendations to ensure accountability in decision making related to agriculture:

• the broad lines of the CARP to be decided and funded as a Community policy;
• the CARP to be subject to co-decision between Council and the European Parliament both for policy and budgets;
• policy co-ordination to be encouraged between different Commission directorates (Environment, Regional, Social, Industry, Consumer, Development, Culture and External Relations interests also need to be taken into account);
• application of open governance principles to CARP management, especially how to improve the participation of stakeholders.

The AgriCultural Convention also proposed that the European Convention should set out the foundations for a new Common Agricultural and Rural Policy in the treaty. CARP should be based on the principles of sustainable development, democratic accountability, and should be clearly identified as a community policy. CARP should:

• ensure the viability of agricultural production in Europe based on responsible yields;
• provide fair income for farmers and good prospects for young farmers;
• protect environmental resources such as soil, water and bio-diversity;
• provide quality and variety of healthy food;
• ensure animal welfare;
• foster the development of local economies and cultures, not just agriculture.

CARP should also include some new rights, such as:

• the right to healthy food, and to transparent information about its production and safety;
• the right to a healthy environment and clean water;
• the right to produce and consume GMO-free food.

CARP should also enable developing countries fair access to Western markets and development of food security within their own. The AgriCultural Convention proposed that the current WTO round should advocate an integrated approach to rural development and sustainable farming practices across the world.

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