Ploughing the route to reform

Ahead of testing negotiations, aimed at reaching a decision on the reform proposals to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), that start today at the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg, Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler confirmed that although the road will be tough, agreements are possible.

"It is decision time. We have a few days' and nights' hard work ahead of us but an agreement can be reached. Our agricultural policy needs reform, and we need it now,"​ he said yesterday.

But Fischler made it clear that although the Commission is willing to pay heed of legitimate concerns from EU member states, "I do not want to see lame compromises that lead to more and not less red tape,"​ he said. He added that not reaching a decision would jeopardise Europe's position in the ongoing World Trade Organisation Round.

"And this would give the worst possible signal for the economy at a time of stagnation. Those standing in the way of reform would have to take the blame for that,"​ stated Fischler.

Media reports on Tuesday suggest that France and Germany might try to broker a deal this week on CAP, a policy that has also been blamed for distorting world trade and holding back developing countries.

The extent to which the EU will go towards adapting CAP to revive the stalled Doha round of trade liberalisation talks before a World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in September lies, to a large extent, in the hands of France, which is the biggest beneficiary of subsidies from the current CAP that uses up nearly half of the EU's €100 billion ($117 billion) annual budget.

Opposition to CAP reform is rife among French farmers, however, with observers suggesting that Fischler's proposed changes will very likely be watered down to appeal to the French.

Fischler's blueprint calls for cuts in the link between food production and subsidies - in Euro speak 'decoupling' - and for more spending to develop the countryside.