With yesterday's vote in Strasbourg, the European Parliament in its plenary session "put the stamp" on the proposal for the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP in European parlance), on which negotiations will now open between the Parliament itself, the Council and the European Commission. Negotiation that will end with the definition of the four legislative texts that will introduce the reform of the CAP
“A reform – Paolo De Castro, president of the Agriculture Commission of the European Parliament told FIRSTonline – which, with yesterday's vote at the end of three years of demanding work, he formally entrusted to Parliament's negotiators (who are, in addition to De Castro, the rapporteurs of the 'regulations', namely the Italian Giovanni La Via, the Portuguese Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos and the French Michel Dantin – ed) the mandate to negotiate with the representatives of the Councils and of the other two European institutions. A vote that validated the demanding work carried out for three years by the commission I preside over; a vote that constitutes another significant step forward in the direction of a fair balance between food safety and environmental protection in view of the imminent opening of the tripartite negotiations”.
A negotiation that "will not be a walk in the park", underlines De Castro. He has already been in contact with Irish Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney (Ireland is the rotating president of the EU Council for the current semester), and together they have set a timetable which from April to June includes a thirty "trilogues". European term to indicate the meetings between the restricted delegations of the three institutions, which - after the introduction of the "codecision" procedure, introduced by the Lisbon Treaty - will have to finalize the definitive texts of the reform intended to have direct effect in all 27 EU Member States.
“With this reform – adds Paolo De Castro – a new agricultural policy will be born which will ensure high quality food products sufficient to satisfy the needs of half a billion European citizens, which will effectively contribute to environmental protection. And which will also guarantee decent incomes to farmers by freeing them from tiresome bureaucratic procedures and providing them with new tools to help them manage the market crises that frequently affect the agricultural sector".
"The reform - Giovanni La Via, rapporteur for the 'regulation' relating to the financing, management and monitoring of the CAP, told FIRSTonline - focuses heavily on simplification, which was the guiding concept which inspired the commitment of the Agriculture Commission . Farmers want to focus on research and innovation to further improve the quantity and quality of food produce they offer to the markets. And they can no longer continue to spend so much of their time reviewing and filling out paperwork.”
“Simplification, which must also concern the methods of financing farmers, must also correspond – explains Giovanni La Via – with maximum transparency in the allocation of aid. With this spirit, the European Parliament has expressed itself in favor of the publication of the lists of beneficiaries of European support. The simplification will also have to touch the sanctions. Which will have to be imposed, yes, for example on anyone responsible for fraud against the EU. But that they will no longer be able to hit a distraction or a material error in the same way as a real fraud ".
But the crux that no simplification intervention will be able to resolve is that relating to the insufficiency of the resources allocated to the ambitions of the new CAP. Which has not been spared from the ax of the 2014-2020 budget cuts. Or rather: it has been hit less heavily than other policies. “Small consolation: agriculture has been cut off … only the legs. The head is safe”, is the bitter comment of Paolo De Castro. Who fears that, with the wind blowing, it will be very difficult to open any gap in the multiannual budget. Which, moreover, yesterday the European Parliament rejected.
