National delegates of young farmer organisations from across Europe gathered in Brussels on 7-8 April at their general assembly and met with EU policy-makers to address the issue of post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform.
The question posed to the policy-makers was ‘Who needs the CAP?’
Joris Baecke, president of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), told the audience that “the historical payments model is becoming less and less legitimate for the future”.
Baecke highlighted the positive signals coming from EU consumers, such as indicated by the Eurobarometer on 31 March 2010, which said that “an overwhelming majority (90 per cent) of European citizens consider that agriculture and the rural environment are vital issues for Europe's future.”
MEP Paolo De Castro said that it was essential to legitimise the CAP since it is “a policy that benefits all of European society”, providing “essential services from food production, biodiversity, and environmental protection to maintaining the economic and social vitality of rural areas”.
Commenting on the talks of reducing the CAP’s budget to 32 per cent from 48 per cent of EU expenditure, MEP Reime Boege of the European Parliaments Committee on Budget said: “In the current financial framework, funds are very limited.”
