EU to Elaborate Common Agricultural Policy Reform: ‘Prioritize Food Sovereignty,’ says ECVC
“The regulation of Common Market Organisation (CMO) must be the central issue in the upcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The only way the CAP will be able to meet its numerous objectives is by ensuring markets function fairly and making sure all peasant-farmers can earn a decent income through fair prices”, says ECVC – the European Coordination Via Campesina.
According to the peasant unions in the region, the episode of food price inflation seen across the European Union after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine has had a number of social implications and must push us to once again consider stabilising food prices as a full-fledged objective of the CAP. The structural instability of agricultural markets is no longer in doubt: adjusting supply through prices does not work because of the significant fixed costs present in the sector. Prices can reach extremes that no longer have any economic rationality and deregulation accelerates the concentration and the creation of monopolies or quasi-monopolies in the other links of the food chain. Competitive markets cannot positively influence the agri-food system, which is the basis of our livelihoods. An ambitious revision of the CMO would allow major advances in terms of economic, social, and environmental justice.
Therefore, ECVC has called for setting clear objectives of this revision of the CMO:
- Fair and stable prices
- Increase the number of peasant-farmers and farms
- Adjust volumes to the physical capacities of the territories and to the need for relocation
- Address current climate and environmental challenges
- Prevent the destabilisation of food markets in other low- and middle-income countries
- Reduce the consequences of the monopolisation of other links in the food chain
- Have regulatory tools to intervene effectively to rebalance the markets
The work of peasants’ organisations in different countries to challenge the current distribution of the value chain and the agricultural protests of early 2024 are evidence that some of the main concerns of peasant-farmers are receiving fair prices for their production and ensuring better working and living conditions.
Data demonstrates that the food and agricultural system is dysfunctional. Indeed, food poverty is increasing severely, while agricultural income remains below the average of the rest of the economy in most Member States, standing at 47% of the average gross wages and salaries of the EU economy.
Finally, market regulation is fundamental to tackling climate change at present, which leads to an increase in the variability of yields and specifically requires the creation of stocks.
The next CAP reform must be historic, and the first to allow a real transition to more sustainable and climate-resilient production models. To this end, ECVC advocates for a market regulation in accordance with food sovereignty, i.e. allowing populations to choose their food and agricultural policies but also prohibiting dumping vis-à-vis low- and middle-income countries countries.
The next CAP reform must allow the installation of many peasant-farmers on European territory, improving access to agricultural use of land, preserving the various natural resources, lively rural areas, and culturally rich and diverse landscapes.
The next CAP reform must be more consistent with the Unfair Trading Practices Directive (UTP Directive) and also ensure the revision of public procurement rules to allow production to be relocated.
As negotiations on the next CAP begin, and as the demand for market regulation becomes increasingly urgent, ECVC shares its main recommendations concerning the CAP’s CMO regulation. The Commission, MEPs, and members of the Council must address this issue with at least as much importance and attention as the other two parts of the CAP, which concern the distribution of direct payments and support for rural development.
The next CMO must:
- Ensure prices that cover production costs for producers
- Regulate the volumes produced and the volumes placed on the market
- Manage buffer stocks publicly
- Modulate producer organizations to ensure effective participation of peasant-farmers
- Support the agroecological transition and sustainable agricultural practices
- Strengthen the crisis prevention and management policy
- Increase import regulation
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