CAP 'more important than ever'

In a staunch defence of the often maligned policy framework, Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU Agriculture Commissioner, described the continued existence of the CAP as ‘a matter of life and death’ and agriculture as ‘the basis of civilisation’.

Only the CAP could help farmers feed a growing population, beat climate change and maintain the health of the environment, she said in a speech to Swedish farmers last week.

“What happens in our rural areas is, and will be, a matter of life and death. At the top of the list of what rural areas give us, must be food. This is obvious, but it’s worth repeating. Without farming, human life as we know it would simply stop,” she said.

She said direct, or ‘pillar one’ payments, would continue to be essential to help European farmers ‘through very difficult times’ and to keep Europe’s productive base ‘alive’ and ‘resilient’ to global food shocks.  

Mrs Fischer Boel then turned her attention to environmental matters.

She said 80 per cent of the EU was either farmland or forest and the CAP was needed to help farmers secure these ‘lungs of Europe’.

“The biggest mistake that we could make here would be to assume that we will get these public goods for free.

“Looking after our countryside in the way we want costs money – for farmers, foresters and other land managers. It’s thanks to their hard work that we get to keep our romantic view of European nature.

“That’s why the CAP helps to cover some of these costs – whether through payments for Less Favoured Areas, through agri-environment schemes, or through other tools,” she said.

Mrs Fischer Boel concluded: “Although our policy toolbox will probably look a little different after 2013, it will be more important than ever to pay for public goods with public money, at least to some extent.”

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