euro|topics - Scant agricultural reform for the EU

Main focus of Friday, November 21, 2008

Scant agricultural reform for the EU

The EU's agricultural ministers have redistributed expenditures for the Common Agricultural Policy. Direct payments to farmers will be cut, and the milk quota is to rise each year until 2015. But for Europe's press the results of the meeting do not go far enough.

The Daily Telegraph - United Kingdom

The Daily Telegraph writes that the talks in Brussels on reforming the Common Agricultural Policy could not be called progress: "The pace of travel towards a simpler, more market-focused CAP, appears to have slowed. The eventual removal of milk quotas will help more productive farmers, though not until 2015; more money is going to conserve the countryside, but the benefits will be felt less here than on the Continent; and distortions remain in the market that disadvantage British agriculture. EU ministers are supposed to be dismantling the protectionist superstructure of EU agriculture once and for all. At this rate, it will take another 30 years to achieve." (21/11/2008)

die tageszeitung - Germany

The German daily die tageszeitung points out that fundamental change is needed in the EU's agricultural policy and that the meeting of the EU's ministers of agriculture failed to produce this: "Once again, agricultural reform has been postponed. Europe's farmers will be allowed to produce more milk for which there is no demand on the market. After submitting agricultural policy to a 'health check' the EU's ministers of agriculture have agreed to retain most of the subsidies for large farm businesses and only a fraction of these subsidies will be contingent on meeting ecological criteria. ... There is however one bright spot. This harmless compromise could have an impact that arises not from the results it produces, but from the way it was achieved. For in the debates that led to the compromise the lines of conflict were more clearly exposed than they usually are. ... This process of discussion represents an opportunity because true reform of the agricultural sector can only be accomplished with the support of the farmers, not against their will." (21/11/2008)

Pražský deník - Czech Republic

The daily Pražský deník attacks farm subsidies: "We really have to ask ourselves whether farm subsidies make sense. Only five percent of Europeans work in the agricultural sector, yet half of the Union's budget goes to them. Would Europe's agricultural sector collapse without these subsidies? Would Europeans stop eating? Would Europe's farmers succumb to competition from non-European products? Any liberal worth his salt would say that subsidies distort the market. But when the critics of subsidies come to power they defend this distortion with all the instruments at their disposal. This seems paradoxical, but that's the way it is." (21/11/2008)

Turun sanomat - Finland

The daily Turun Sanomat welcomes the EU agricultural reform, saying that it opens up new possibilities for national support of the farming industry. It points out that every time the European Union's agricultural policy changes, taxpayers in Finland call for "the vital interests of our farming sector to be protected. ... The MTK [farmers' association] has expressed satisfaction that Finland has retained an adequate degree of flexibility and is of the opinion that the solution goes in the right direction but not far enough. It is, however, clear that Finland's dairy and beef production are under threat. ... The farm industry and the ministry must together find a way to guarantee livestock breeding and make it as profitable as possible." (21/11/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, November 21, 2008

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