CAP needs root-and-branch change

As the Forum for the Future of Agriculture (FFA) conference kicks off in Brussels today, 115 leading environmental, health, and social NGOs (1) are calling on European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and his team to initiate an in-depth review of food production and consumption in Europe (2).

Faustine Bas-Defossez, European Environmental Bureau (EEB) Senior Policy Officer for Agriculture and Bioenergy, said:

“It is time for Juncker to give Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan the mandate to open the debate on whether the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is fit-for-purpose. Given that 53 billion euros (3) is pumped into Europe’s farming system every year, it is only fair that taxpayers are allowed to see if they are getting a good return for their money. The European Commission has already put much of the EU’s environmental legislation through the mill, and it seems only right that the same level of scrutiny is applied to EU farm policies.

“Policymakers continue to claim that EU farming policies are greener and fairer than ever. But science shows that this is not the case (4).

“We need a food and farming policy that gives EU citizens access to healthy soils, water, air and, obviously, food. Farmers should be rewarded for such work, not for ploughing massive amounts of toxic chemicals into our land which are detrimental to their health, that of consumers and our nature.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

(1) Full list of organisations calling for a CAP Fitness Check listed here: http://tiny.cc/CAPFC 

(2) Letter to Jean-Claude Juncker from 115 NGOs calling on the European Commission to carry out a Fitness Check of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Read the EEB’s official request to the European Commission for a CAP Fitness Check.
A Fitness Check is a special mechanism for reviewing existing EU laws. At a special meeting of the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT) platform on 5 April, the EEB’s demand will be assessed. The RSPB and Friends of the Earth Europe, the two organisations which represent the environmental interest on this platform, will follow up on the EEB’s demand and further make the case for a CAP Fitness Check.

Today’s letter follows on from a letter sent earlier this month to Director-General Plewa on the Commission’s public consultation on CAP greening. The consultation was very limited in scope and full of leading questions which made it incredibly difficult for us to accurately represent our concerns in our responses. Read the EEB’s submission to the consultation.

(3) 53 billion euros represents 37% of the total EU budget.

(4)

• Recent research shows that much of the money earmarked for environmental protection is having little real impact:
  > Under the CAP 17. 2 billion euros are earmarked every year for measures which are supposed to protect the environment but the reality is that much of this money has little actual impact on environmental protection.
  (Source: Analysis carried out by the European Enviromental Bureau (EEB) & BirdLife)

  > Attempts to make the policy greener at the 2013 reform are set to fail. (Source: IEEP)

  > 70% of the payments end up in the pockets of just 20% of the biggest and most intensive arable farms.
  (Source: European Parliament study: ‘Implementation of the First Pillar of the CAP 2014-2020 in the EU Member States’)

•  Europe’s natural world is at breaking point:
  > There is a low level of biodiversity on 95% of arable land.
  (Source: Institut für Agrarökologie und Biodiversität study of 10 EU countries)

  > The majority of habitats and species in Europe have an unfavourable conservation status and biodiversity is on the decline.
  (Source: European Environment Agency’s State of Nature report)

  > Between 1980 and 2013 there has been a 57% decrease in common farmland birds in the European Union.
  (Source: Farmland Bird Index)

  > One in 10 wild bee species face extinction in Europe.
  (Source: IUCN Red List)

  > The EU is not on track to halt biodiversity loss.
  (Source: Mid-term review of the EU’s 2020 Biodiversity strategy)

• Our current farming model is costing trillions of Euros in environmental damage every year worldwide:

  > Industrialised farming practices cost the environment 3 trillion euros a year worldwide. (Source: FAO)

  > In France alone excess use of pesticides and fertilisers causes between 0.9 and 2.9 billion euros of environmental damage each year.
  (Source: Ministre de l’écologie, du développement durable et de l’énergie)

Press contact:
Emily MacIntosh, EEB Communications Officer: emily.macintosh@eeb.org
+32 (0) 486 255 228