Dacian CIOLOS, European Commissioner for Agriculture, presents the Common Agricultural Policy towards 2020 to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGR), in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Brussels

meeting

LE HYARIC, Patrick (GUE/NGL, FR)

CAP reform (T)

CIOLOŞ, Dacian (Renew, RO)

CAPOULAS SANTOS, Luis Manuel (S&D, PT)

LYON, George (ALDE, UK)

CAP towards 2020: extracts from the presentation by Dacian CIOLOS, European Commissioner for Agriculture

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350;, European Commissioner for Agriculture, Europe now faces a crucial choice for an entire generation, a choice between an agriculture that is spread across all Europe's territory, or an agriculture that becomes minor, marginal in the European economy and European society. Here we are talking about economic choices, but also a choice as to our lifestyle, a choice for diversity, for authenticity, quality, for the essential values of the European civilisation. We make a choice on how we set out our ideal on how we ken set out our ideal of unity in diversity.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350;, European Commissioner for Agriculture, I do not think that good agricultural practices, good behaviour production techniques will put in to danger the European agriculture efficiency, but the lost of the tools to support the European agriculture, that might put in to danger the durability and competitively of the European agriculture. I think that if we just look at productivity this will be a challenge.

SOUNDBITE (Portuguese), Luis Manuel CAPOULAS SANTOS (S&amp;D, PT), What do you mean by simplified support for small farmers? What is the exact context of the income stabilisation mechanism?

SOUNDBITE (English), George LYON (ALDE, UK), You talked about the moved of payment system, and ending of the historic system of calculating payments and indeed of delivering payments, what kind of time scale do you envisaged that that can be archived over, because clearly it is a very difficult issue and it will be with pain for many member states.

SOUNDBITE (French), Patrick LE HYARIC (GUE/NGL, FR), We are not going far enough I think on the whole idea of minimal prices. Minimal prices, and safety measures, if we combine those two, I think it's something we should look at today. This especially as you are going to have liberalisation, especially on the whole area on the end of the milk quota, and this will bring us in to national competition and intra European competition, and that will be difficult.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350;, European Commissioner for Agriculture, These are measures we didn't flop up on the air, these are existing measures we wish to spread trough the farmers and to incentive the farmers to go for it.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350;, European Commissioner for Agriculture, The important point is the principle, the concept, and I think you get the point 'active farmer', means precisely that, an active farmer, someone whom is active, working and producing something. Because we have peoples nowadays whom just own land, and get the subsidies even if they are not farming, even if they do not make any production.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350;, European Commissioner for Agriculture, The Commission tackles the initiative on making proposals and I trust that Parliament and Council the two partners in the legislative process, well will insure that we will have the budget of our ambitions. Otherwise of course we cant' say we are going to maintain the same CAP budget while actually proposing budget cuts, and still demanding to the Commission to finance other types of politics.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350;, European Commissioner for Agriculture, I think we may find different type of instruments better tackled to the market than the minimal prices as such. I wonder whatever those mechanisms will be able to work when the European market is opening up more to the other worlds. That is a fact of life. You said we will have less production, well, that's always the case, for example on the fruits and vegetables we have protection and barriers also for meet and milk and other products. So we are not completely without protection, I think we have to find inside the internal market mechanisms adapted to the actual reality.