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European Commission
IP/02/1125
Brussels, 23 July 2002
Franz Fischler in Berlin: "Farm policy cannot turn a blind eye to
society's expectations"
During a discussion in Berlin today of the Commission's proposals for
the mid-term review of the common agricultural policy, Agriculture
Commissioner Franz Fischler said that changes were needed to restore
the CAP's credibility. "We need a fresh start for the sake of the
farmer, the consumer and the taxpayer. If we are serious about a
policy which promotes quality rather than quantity, which offers
farmers incentives not to produce for intervention stocks and not to
gear their production to subsidy levels but to what the consumer
wants, which frees farmers from the bureaucratic yoke of form-filling
and which improves the standing of our farm aid schemes with the
general public in the EU and with the WTO, then we have to decouple
direct payments from production and make them conditional on
compliance with environment, food safety and animal welfare
standards."
Fischler made it clear that German farmers had a right to expect to
receive a fair income and to be paid a fair price directly for their
efforts to protect the environment and the countryside, as for
agricultural production. "Farmers are not rewarded via the market for
these public goods which society expects from them. So farmers need to
be rewarded for these services directly from the CAP."
On the proposed upper limit on direct payments Fischler said it was
not fair for 80% of the money to go to 20% of the largest holdings.
The aid system should take account of economies of scale: there could
be no economic justification for a few big farms to receive over a
million a year in EU subsidies.
Fischler warned against East German doom-mongers bewailing the effects
of capping payments for large holdings. "They fail to mention that we
also want an allowance of 3 000 euros for each farm employee on
holdings with a workforce of more than two people, so labour-intensive
farms will not be at a disadvantage. Contrary to what is often
claimed, the aid limit for a former collective farm in Brandenburg
with 165 workers is then not 300 000 euros but 800 000, and there are
also funds for environment and investment programmes. What is more,
the money saved by modulation or capping is not lost to agriculture
but can be channelled back via rural development to those farmers who
in accordance with the 'rewards for additional services' principle do
more for the environment, certification or animal welfare," the
Commissioner said.
Fischler expects the increased support for producing and marketing
quality produce to have a positive impact on prices and hence the
incomes of German farmers. He also believes that with the
reinforcement of rural development policy Germany and its Länder will
benefit from greater flexibility in how they use funds.
The Commissioner stressed that the brief the heads of government gave
the Commission at the Berlin European Council was not to cut
agricultural spending. "The budget framework is valid until 2006. EU
financing after 2006 is to be discussed at a later date, in a global
context, which will also include structural policy. Starting the
funding debate at this stage would have only one effect: to delay
enlargement indefinitely."
You can find more information about the mid-term review of the CAP on
the Internet at:
europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/mtr/index_de.htm
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