This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'The conference on CAP post-2013'.



Ref. Ares(2020)3014573 - 10/06/2020
SPEECH/10/400 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dacian Cioloș 
 
Member of the European Commission Responsible for Agriculture 
and Rural Development 
 
 
 
 
 
‘I want a CAP that is strong, efficient 
and well-balanced’ 
 
 
 
                                     
 
 
 
 
Conference on public debate entitled ‘The CAP after 2013’ 
Brussels, 20 July 2010 

Ladies and Gentlemen,  
We now come to the end of this conference. The public debate launched back in 
April draws to a close. My staff and I will now start on our work of analysis and 
developing concrete ideas.  
Obviously, I am not going to lock myself in my office, close the windows and 
shutters and disconnect the phone. The discussions will start up again. Those who 
know me have been able to see the importance I attach to meeting people, 
exchanging ideas and going places.  
These months of public debate and these two days in conference will enable me to 
come back to appear before you again with a communication on the future of the 
CAP. A communication that is strong on your views and ideas and that reflects my 
departments’ analytical capabilities.  
I-During the public debate and the last two days, a number of doors 
have been opened  

-  1) A common vision of the major challenges facing tomorrow’s CAP has 
emerged.  
There are different ideas about the tools we need for the future. We shall be 
discussing this in the communication.  
During the debate, we spoke a great deal about food safety, the environment, 
climate change, employment and market volatility.  
One issue came out more forcefully than in the past: the importance of agriculture to 
rural areas or rather the importance of European agriculture.  
The CAP must enable us to strike a balance in the way we use our rural areas and 
to preserve the link between rural areas and production.  
Given these challenges, there is a clear convergence of views on the need for the 
CAP to evolve and to be reformed.  
This conference, the public debate and the discussions in the European Parliament 
and the Council have revealed a shared vision on the major challenges to which 
agriculture must respond.  
We do not agree on everything, of course. Some people put the economic 
challenges first; others are more concerned about environmental issues.  
-  2- For my part, I shall make sure I do not play one view off against another. I 
want to get the right balance.  
European agriculture needs to be genuinely green. But Green Europe must be 
ambitious as far as agriculture is concerned.  
We must respect the balance of nature but, within this framework, we must also aim 
for economic performance.  
II The lessons of the public debate for the future of the CAP 
-  1) Public support will enable us to reconcile the economic, the environmental and 
the social and land-related considerations.  
The public debate has shown that Europeans fully understand the need for a public 
policy on agriculture which will serve society. 
 
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Public support must: 
-  promote competitive, sustainable agriculture; 
-  ensure a long-term future for farms;  
-  help farms to move towards increasingly sustainable farming methods;  
-  keep farms and employment in rural areas, including in those places where it 
is not so easy to earn a  living as a farmer.  
Let me make one thing quite clear: farmers should not be ashamed to receive public 
funding. The support given to agriculture meets the needs of a very special sector 
that is facing serious challenges.  
This support needs to be better allocated, better targeted and easier to see. 
Taxpayers must be able to understand at once why it is being given.  
Some people are tempted by the idea of a uniform rate. This was one of the ideas 
put forward during the public debate. How far do you have to go to achieve a level 
playing field? For my part, fairness and equality are not the same thing.  
Likewise, maintaining historical criteria is no longer an option either. The signposts 
of the past will not enable us to prepare for the future and help the sector 
modernise.  
We need to build upon objective, realistic criteria: the type of farm and the socio-
economic, climatic and environmental context in which farmers work.  
One thing is clear: we cannot perpetuate a system which fails to give similar rights 
to farms in categories where they work under similar conditions. 
This is the background against which I shall be working during the next few weeks 
with one goal in mind: to propose a system which is effective and fair to all the 
Member States, and to their regions and their farmers.  
-  2) The structure of the CAP. One pillar or two?  
We must keep the two pillars. But we must not let ourselves be trapped within the 
present set-up.  
The two pillars are the two sides of the CAP and they complement each other:  
-  the first pillar is support for all European farmers on an annual basis which 
reflects quantifiable, visible results each year. It is our response to the major 
challenges common to all the Member States of the EU; 
-  the second pillar comprises the changes within different sectors and areas, 
including environmental change. It is intended to underpin our objectives, on a 
multi-annual programming basis, by providing clear priorities. But it must also 
allow enough flexibility to enable our objectives to be achieved.  
Rural development policy must enable us to modernise our farms; to deploy new 
resources for innovation; to work towards the diversification of rural areas; to ensure 
stability in an agricultural sector exposed to market volatility; to provide cross-cutting 
solutions and to rise to the complex challenges of climate change.  
I see a strong CAP that has two pillars. This CAP will support diversity for all its 
farmers and for all the rural areas in Europe. It generates the public goods which 
European society expects. 
 
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III. What are the challenges to which we must rise?  
I count a total of seven.  
-  1/ The European Union is not an island isolated from the rest of the world  
Globalisation is a challenge which affects us all. We cannot put the clock back. 
Europe must contribute to ensuring global food security – as complex a matter as 
that is – but it must not block the progress of the emerging agricultural sectors in 
developing countries.  
Someone asked a question about protein. I am prepared to discuss this subject in 
the framework of a realistic approach based on the European Union’s agronomic 
capability and the environmental contribution of leguminous plants. I very much 
doubt whether we will be able to cover all our needs.  
-  2/ The food challenge 
We have all heard the FAO’s forecasts.  
Can we accept the fact that for years no progress has been made on yields?  
The complex definition of the concept of ‘food security’ needs to be taken into 
consideration in our thinking and the decisions we take.  
Europe must accept its responsibilities in the field of research and innovation; keep 
up its international ambitions, with the aid of high-quality products and strong tools 
for promoting European products; and listen more keenly to consumers, including 
the less well-off ones among them, and to its local and regional markets. This will 
help farmers to increase their added value and consumers to discover the diverse 
range of products available and the abundance that European lands produce.  
-  3/ The environmental challenge  
Should we resign ourselves to seeing the quality of soil and water deteriorate? 
Should we be thinking that loss of biodiversity is unavoidable? Should we just sit 
back and accept climate change? I do not think so.  
Society is not passive in the face of environmental challenges. Agriculture has 
solutions to offer.  
Let us not forget: the sustainable management of natural resources is an economic, 
an environmental and a social challenge.  
The agricultural sector must improve its production methods and reduce its carbon 
emissions; adapt its working methods as it is the first victim of the rise in 
temperatures and the increased damage caused by climate change; and in a wider 
sense come up with answers to help combat climate change. I am thinking in 
particular of its carbon storage capability.  
For all of these things, we must give our encouragement to the sector.  
-  4/ The economic challenge  
I have obviously heard the concerns expressed during the public debate and the last 
two days. I am going to work along the following lines:  
I am going to strengthen our common risk prevention and crisis management rules. 
Beyond direct aid, a solid safety net will also be necessary. This is about the 
sector’s ability to invest, to innovate and to attract young people.  
 
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We also need market management instruments. We have seen how important they 
are during the last few months given the excessive price volatility.  
We must come up with new instruments which will enable us to respond to the 
problem of the excessive fluctuations in incomes. These fluctuations threaten to 
cause whole sectors of our agricultural industries to disappear. Inaction is not an 
option.  
The economic challenge also involves renewing links within the food chain.  
-  5/ The territorial challenge 
It is fair enough to support the agricultural sector throughout Europe. But the sector 
must use its land areas to become more competitive and to turn the characteristics 
of these areas to is advantage.  
The future of agriculture and rural areas is intimately linked. 
The CAP can and must be a success factor in the Europe 2020 Strategy.  
The Europe 2020 Strategy can rely on the CAP for intelligent, sustainable and 
inclusive growth in rural areas.  
-  6/ Lastly, I must not forget the challenge of diversity 
As a result of enlargement, the European Union has become more diverse. The 
CAP’s success will depend on our ability to support all of these farms in an efficient 
manner.  
I know that we can count on the ability of the Member States to apply the CAP on 
the ground and to adapt it to their regional and local issues. Our success with the 
Leader initiative and our shared experience in the rural development network should 
be put to good use in this respect.  
-  7/ I must also not forget the challenge of simplicity  
Because, to be strong, the CAP needs to be simple and understandable.  
The beauty and strength of a forest can be counted in terms of the number of 
species it contains. The strength of biodiversity can be likened to trees adapted to 
their environment and interacting with each other. The strength of our rural areas is 
reflected in the diversity of our agricultural industries. That strength will give us the 
resources which will help the agricultural sector to modernise. It is with this in mind 
that I shall be putting forward options for a renewed CAP, for a European Union that 
attaches importance to its farmers, and for farmers who can meet European citizens’ 
expectations.  
 
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