Romanian agri organizations oppose the change of the CAP
The Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation opposes the modification of the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy in the EU treaties and requests political support.
MEP Eugenia Rodríguez Palop is the alternative rapporteur for the draft opinion of the Commission for Agriculture, and through the launched proposal she wants to make the post-2027 CAP sustainable "socially, economically and ecologically", changing the focus of the policy from "increasing agricultural productivity" to "ensuring self-sufficiency " at the same time "protecting agricultural ecosystems" and "ensuring an efficient transition."
Rodríguez Palop considers it opportune to change the substance of the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy, although there is no basis for this change, other than the "green way" which European decision-makers obsessively follow, despite all the warnings from farmers and cooperatives in all member states.
The foundations of the Common Agricultural Policy are established in Art. 39 of the Treaty, where the principles of providing consumers with food at affordable prices in adequate quantities and guaranteeing farmers an adequate income are clearly stated, and through the proposal of the rapporteur, it is desired that these principles be removed, and we, the farmers and cooperatives in Romania, cannot agree to this change!
Consumer access to food cannot be removed from the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy, because it represents one of the main purposes of agriculture: to be a food supplier. Farmers are generators of food for people and it must remain so! The affordable price for consumers is vital, especially in a Europe that supports the fight against hunger.
How will the "zero hunger" objectives be supported, in the context of the proposed change? What direction will agriculture take, directed by these changes, since it no longer has as its main objective the provision of food in sufficient quantities and at affordable prices?
Also, how will farmers be protected from lack of funds and imminent bankruptcies, if food will become too expensive for the population? Will they reorient themselves towards laboratories, where they will create synthetic foods, which, although synthetic, will ensure the sustainability so desired by the Commission, without proper risk management?
The member organizations of the Alliance consider that through these changes a dangerous precedent is created, because besides introducing in the Common Agricultural Policy objectives that are not connected to agriculture, the real objectives of agriculture are deliberately removed. We cannot agree, in any way, with the massacre of Article 39 of the EU Treaty.
In addition to the lobby undertaken together with the member states, COPA-COGECA, the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation sent, in the beginning of September, all these dissatisfactions and concerns to the Romanian MEPs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Permanent Representation of Romania to the EU, requesting support for the rejection of the modification of the CAP objectives.
The political support of the Romanian representatives in addition to the Union institutions is vital in these decisive moments for the fate of European agriculture.
In this way, we raise a public alarm signal and request all European parliamentarians representing Romania, the Permanent Representation in Brussels, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to take into account the need to ensure food safety and security for the entire population of the European Union and to reject the amendment proposed by Mrs. Rodríguez Palop or other possible ones, which have the same effect.
The 4 professional organizations from agriculture, food industry and related services, informally united in the Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation, total approximately 3500 farmers who work a total area of 2.5 million ha, to which 1.5 million ha is added – as equivalent of the Large Livestock Units related to animal husbandry, throughout the territory of Romania. The alliance also includes members who are active in the food industry and accumulate a turnover of 24.2%, respectively a number of employees of 15.95% of the total Romanian agri-food sector.
Alliance for Agriculture and Cooperation”
Source: www.gazetadeagricultura.info, September 2022