Renew Europe welcomes the intensification of the negotiations on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Discussions are now ongoing at political group level within the European Parliament in order to reach a first reading position during the October II plenary session. This should pave the way for a rapid and satisfactory implementation of a new CAP.
To make the end of the process efficient and contribute to a renewed and ambitious agricultural policy, Renew Europe has adopted a detailed group position on the remaining open issues, together with key principles for successful CAP reform outlined in a new vision paper.
MEP Ulrike Müller (Freie Wähler, DE), Renew AGRI Coordinator, comments: 'For the new CAP, Renew Europe expresses a clear commitment to the new Delivery Model and the Green Deal. In this respect, our group supports the move from a prescriptive, rules-based approach to a more targeted, result-oriented and tailor-made approach which fulfils the economic and social aims and objectives of the CAP, while meeting Europe's higher environmental and climate ambition. This is one of the cornerstones of CAP reform and is also reflected in the Horizontal Regulation.'
MEP Martin Hlaváček (ANO, CZ) explains: 'Our concept has three main pillars. Enhanced eco-schemes in the first pillar to match the CAP's climate ambition, Smart Green Investments in the second pillar to unleash genuine green investment potential and Human Capital Investments into knowledge and skills necessary to speed up the transformation towards genuine and viable green rural economies. We hope other political groups will be able to match our level of ambition and also consistency in their proposals.'
'I am very proud Renew Europe is paving the way for a European agricultural policy that sufficiently supports farmers in the transition towards a modern and green economy,' adds MEP Jan Huitema (VVD, NL), 'The CAP needs to incentivise farmers, instead of demotivating them with bureaucratic rules that have no economic or environmental impact. Renew Europe wants to stimulate and reward farmers for their achievements in the areas of environment, climate and animal welfare. By putting targeted environmental schemes and programmes as well as investments at the centre of this reform, we can make the sector more sustainable and competitive for the future."
MEP Jérémy Decerle (Renaissance, FR) concludes: 'We need a CAP that is able to recognize and value farmers' commitments for a sustainable agriculture, that can allow better and more stable incomes, that can help farmers cope with risks and that will address the demographic agricultural situation. To ensure this, we must give every opportunity to the new tools!'