Communication on Common Agricultural Policy after 2013

The European Commission published on 18th November, a Communication on "the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) towards 2020 – Meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future". The reform aims at making the European agriculture sector more dynamic, competitive, and effective in responding to the Europe 2020 vision of stimulating sustainable growth, smart growth and inclusive growth.

The paper outlines three options for further reform.

The Commission communication does not go into all the details of the reform. Taking account of the detailed impact assessments which are underway for each of the options set out in the Communication, the Commission will prepare legislative proposals which will be presented in summer 2011. It will organise a consultation during which stakeholders will be invited to submit their views on the options and contribute to the impact assessment of the different options by submitting their analysis. These proposals will follow the co-decision procedure applied for the first time to a CAP reform, following the entry into force of the new Treaty. The CAP reform should enter into force in 2014.

The Communication outlines 3 options for the future direction of the CAP, in order to address these major challenges

adjusting most pressing shortcomings in the CAP through gradual changes;

making the CAP greener, fairer, more efficient, and more effective; moving away from income support and market measures and focusing on environmental and climate change objectives.

In all 3 options, the Commission foresees the maintenance of the current system of 2 Pillars – a 1st Pillar (covering direct payments and market measures, where rules are clearly defined at EU level) and a 2nd Pillar (comprising multi-annual rural development measures, where the framework of options is set at EU level, but the final choice of schemes is left to member states or regions under joint management). Another common element to all 3 options is the idea that the future system of direct payments cannot be based on historical reference periods, but should be linked to objective criteria.

"The current system provides different rules for the EU-15 and the EU-12, which cannot be continued after 2013", Commissioner Ciolos insisted today. More objective criteria are also need for Rural Development allocations.

There is as yet no exhaustive list of agricultural practices which will be supported under the 'green' component of direct payments. An impact assessment is currently underway in order to determine the most relevant techniques.http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/communication/index_en.htm