Notre Europe's viewpoint | 24/11/2010 

Initiated by the Schuman Declaration, the European project has been under constant construction for 60 years. Its continual evolutions can sometimes cause one to lose sight of its long-term issues and do not facilitate the intelligibility of the integration process. This is especially true for citizens and policymakers who are quick to criticize the technicality of the European debates and who then can perceive them in a biased way.

This is the case for two major issues to which Notre Europe has called attention to for several years: the EU budget and the CAP. In the first case, there is a tendency to compare the budget of this "unidentified political object" – in the words of Jacques Delors – to national budgets, though funding from the EU is still a very modest 1% of the EU’s GDP. In the second case, there is a tendency to evaluate spending for agriculture in terms of other EU policies without specifying that it is the only policy that is the result of a transfer of sovereignty. This misreading of the action and means of the EU average obfuscates basic data: agriculture is only the 11th largest European public expenditure, far behind the leading trio (social protection policy and active labor market policies, health, education-training).

The Communication presented on November 18th by the Agriculture Commissioner Ciolos "CAP 2020: Food, natural resources and territory – meeting future challenges," relaunches the institutional debate upon the sound basis of the objectives of this policy after 2013 insofar as it places the long-term challenges at the heart of the discussion. Such an exercise should be welcomed because it aims to make politics more transparent in the eyes of citizens and more consistent with the implications of the growth strategy of the EU in ensuring a competitive and dynamic agriculture. These orientations correspond largely to those which Notre Europe has defended since the publication in early 2008 of the report written by JC Bureau and LP Mahe.

But now the question of the EU's capacity to act with respect to agriculture and rural areas, that is to say most of the discussion, lies elsewhere. Indeed, the instruments of the future CAP will depend on decisions by the European Council and European Parliament regarding the future Financial Perspectives 2014-2020. Will these institutions recall that agriculture is one of the main potential levers of action of the EU and that it already contributes to the Europe 2020 Strategy? Will they believe that a substantial reduction of the amounts allocated to the single integrated policy will make the Union more effective in reaching its goals of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth?

The economic and social crisis to which Europeans are seeking a solution leaves them little margin for error in their choice. Bad decisions would hinder the economic and social development of the EU and its long-term influence on the international stage. Can we take such risks for the EU’s future through the reform of the agricultural budget and the CAP? To avoid this, we need for the debate on the added value of the common agricultural policy to be conducted resoundingly in the coming months. This is what Notre Europe will contribute to doing, as it has done for over three years.