UK rural affairs minister Caroline Spelman has called for the phasing out and eventual abolition of European Union subsidies to farmers, claiming that rising food prices and global demand for food mean they are no longer necessary.
In an address to the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday (5 January), the UK minister argued that the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) needed to be “fundamentally different”, claiming the current system threatened the future of European agriculture.
Ms Spelman also called for an end to “protectionism” in EU member states, arguing that favouring protectionism over liberalisation “undercut” producers in developing countries and would “hold back” European farmers.
“Now is the time to make very significant progress towards reducing our reliance on direct payments,” she argued. “Rising global demand for food and rising food prices make it possible to reduce subsidies and plan for their abolition.”
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