Agricultures / CAP

Declining milk prices have apparently put many farmers in danger of bankruptcy, as supply exceeds demand despite attempts by the Commission to stabilize the market. When EU agriculture ministers met informally on Monday 5 October to discuss the matter, farmers from across the continent showed up in Brussels’ European quarter as well. Tractors blocked the street, as bonfires of straw and tyres burnt as milk was poured over the barricades protecting the EU institutions.

Image: www.flickr.com/ striatic

The Agriculture and Fisheries Council will meet on the 25-26 of May under the Presidency of Mr Jakub Sebesta, minister for Agriculture of the Czech Republic. The points to be discussed are the simplification of the CAP and the Green Paper on the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Image: European Commission Audiovisual Service

The European Commission had offered developing countries one billion euro of unspent Common Agriculture Policy funds to help them develop their agriculture. This move is especially timely as these countries are hard hit by the food crisis resulting from a surge in commodity prizes. According to the commissioner in charge of agriculture Mariann Fisher Boel, these funds will help poor countries develop their infrastructure, buy seeds, and fertilizers. It is a long term approach seeking to empower local farmers as only 15% of the money would be spent on food aid. In some of the target countries, up to 75% of the population is in the farming sector, smart investment should help this huge population benefit from the increasing commodity prices turning the tables on the current situation in which they lose whether the prices are high or low.

The Slovenian Presidency has postponed an important vote on pesticides until June following a meeting of EU Agriculture ministers. At the meeting two sides clashed over the possible ban of a number of pesticides, such as endocrine disruptors, that allegedly have serious consequences for the environment and for human health. The Commission, along with the Parliament wishes to see the substances banned but pesticide producers and farmers argue that science do not support such claims. They are backed by the UK and Ireland that fear impact of the plan on food production in a time of financial crisis. On the other hand stands a number of other EU countries among them France, who for once finds itself in the unusual position of providing support for a Commission proposal on agriculture.

Last week EU agriculture commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel took the first step into the political mine-zone when launching a package that is supposed to serve as the basis for a six-months discussion before the actual legislative proposal is launched. The proposal aims at boosting market tools, aligning the policy with environmental concerns such as the omnipresent climate change and making the subsidy payment scheme more efficient. The third objective of the suggestion, which aims at capping and cutting the payments destined for the big farmers, has already activated farm associations’ lobbying who argue that such a reform would only see the big farmers split up their lands in smaller pieces. Mrs. Boel can rest assured that she will see all the discussion she dreams of during the next half year. But any initiative that will shift some of the 40% of the annual union budget that the EU spends on the agricultural policy to more worthy activities, e.g. research in low-carbon technologies, is welcomed. Maybe Mr. Verhofstadt, Mr. Balkenende and Mr. Juncker could then finally get their CO2-neutral airplane. So good luck Mrs. Boel. You will need it.

Yes, politics is complicated. You have a supposedly left-wing Gordon Brown government stressing the importance of trade liberalisation and bringing down borders in the UK. At the same time you have a right-wing government in France led by President Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, who does not miss out on any opportunity to advocate that good old economic protectionism vis-à-vis the world; a protectionism that Europe has historically and internally mastered to perfection. Speaking in the European Parliament Tuesday, Mr. Sarkozy took on another round of shadow-boxing with Mr. Brown, when he claimed that “if others defend their farmers, why shouldn’t Europe defend its farmers?" Two days later in Bruges, the UK Foreign Secretary punched back stating that “the case against economic protectionism is overwhelming”. One thing is for sure. The political entertainment is guaranteed for years to come.