European agriculture ministers approve CAP simplification proposals
The Ministers of Agriculture of the European Union (EU) met in Council in Brussels this Monday, February 26.
The objective was to discuss solutions to defuse farmers' anger.
They approved the Commission's first proposals relating to a simplification of the CAP, while asking Brussels to go further.
Tractors in front of the European Commission premises in Brussels, February 26.
AFP - JOHN THYS
By: RFI Follow
Advertisement
Read more
With our correspondent in Brussels,
Laure Broulard
For the Council, we must go beyond administrative measures, and propose solutions beyond the challenges of the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
.
The relaxation of permanent grassland obligations and the reduction in inspection visits proposed today by the European Commission could be “
a first concrete step
”, according to the Belgian Presidency of the Council, but still too timid a step.
Some Member States therefore wish to go further, with more flexibility on crop rotation.
On this point as on that of fallow land, the European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said he was in favor of a system based on volunteering.
The Twenty-Seven also believe that care must be taken to balance trade agreements with third countries and to strengthen the position of farmers in the agri-food chain, without further details.
These are two key demands of the agricultural unions.
There remains tension around products imported from Ukraine without customs duties and accused of lowering prices.
The regulatory measures proposed by the Commission at the beginning of the month failed to reassure the sector.
Discussions between the Commission and the Member States will therefore continue in the coming weeks.
A farmers' demonstration in Brussels
Farmers faced riot police this Monday, February 26 in the streets of Brussels, paralyzed by hundreds of tractors, on the sidelines of a meeting of ministers of the Twenty-Seven ready to revise the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) .
As on February 1, the Belgian capital was the scene of a show of force from the agricultural world, standing up against the regulatory “
burden
”, unfair competition from cheap imports and falling wages.
Some 900 tractors were counted by the police, who barricaded the European district.
Without injuries or violent confrontation, the face-to-face was tense: the authorities responded with tear gas and water cannons to the throwing of eggs, tire blazes and fireworks.
Seven hundred foreign demonstrators, mainly from Italy and Spain, were present, according to the police.
These delegations rubbed shoulders with Belgian delegations.
(
With
AFP)
Read also Farmers' anger spreads in Europe
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
European Union
Agriculture and Fishing
CAP