Interview/ Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner: “Agriculture will always be very interrelated to the different EU policies”

The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy has, over the last decades, undergone a considerable evolution, adapting to new challenges in order to help farmers organizing their production according to market demand. In this respect, the reforms undertaken in 2013 focused on facilitating greener farming practices; research and the spread of knowledge; creating a fairer support system for farmers; as well as giving farmers a stronger position in the food chain. However, the CAP faces many challenges, which is why agriculture remains one of the main areas of action where EU governments have agreed to fully pool responsibility – along with the necessary public funding.

Phil Hogan, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, describes the dimension of the Common Agricultural Policy at EU level, in an interview given for Europunkt to Vladimir Adrian Costea.

Citeşte versiunea în limba română aici.

Vladimir Adrian Costea: Do you consider that there is a paradigm shift on the definition and understanding of the importance of agriculture in the policies of the European Union, compared to the previous years?

Phil Hogan: The relationship between the agricultural policy and other policies of the EU has been strengthened progressively over the last 20 years: the CAP has incorporated new objectives which allowed the policy to adapt itself to the new challenges ahead. This has been the case of the integration of environmental concerns, which have involved a gradual incorporation of environmental objectives within the CAP; also, the synergies developed with the cohesion policy have strengthened the territorial dimension of the CAP. Due to the nature of the agricultural activity (which covers 40% of the EU territory and has an impact on 100% of the consumers), agriculture will always be very interrelated to the different EU policies.

What are the main changes resulting from the occurrence of the Common Agricultural Policy in the Community?

The creation of the CAP 55 years ago was a success, since it satisfied a growing food demand, stimulated the development of the agricultural sector and provided a fair standard of living to farmers. When it was created, the CAP had a clear productivist approach, since it guaranteed minimum prices to the producers. In that first period, the CAP played a key role to provide stability in a continent which was experiencing a fast process of urbanisation.

What were the major reforms aimed at European Union Common Agricultural Policy?

In the 1970s, farmers reached the point where they were producing more food than needed. For that reason, policy evolved and, from the early 1980s, certain measures were introduced to bring production closer to market demand: In 1984, quota limits are imposed on dairy production as first step to cut surpluses. In 1992, in a major overhaul of the policy, the EU decided to move from market support to producer support and a new system of direct payments was created. In 2013, the system of direct payments was modified substantially by decoupling the subsidies from production. Also, since the 90s, farmers have assumed progressively greater responsibility for environment protection and sustainable agriculture. The last reform took place in 2013, under the leadership of Dacian Ciolos: in that reform, which entered into force in 2015, important steps were done to better distribute the support among farmers and increase the environmental performance of the farmers (with the new „greening” measures).

What are the main obstacles for improving the Common Agricultural Policy? To what extent these obstacles still exist today?

A process to change the CAP is a long process since the design of the policy until its implementation. For that reason, a successful policy change requires always a long-term vision: we need to anticipate the challenges and have a clear and consistent direction. The most important obstacles to change are usually associated to the lack of understanding on the long-term challenges.

What are the advantages that Romania has made in the ​​agriculture policy? How does Romania place itself in relation with the EU Common Agricultural Policy in relation to other Member States?

From accession to EU, Romania has launched ambitious programmes of agricultural development adapted to its own needs.   Under the 1^st Pillar of the CAP Romania has received direct payments for more than 9 million ha, as well as other types of support such as support for restructuring of vineyards, market measures for fruits and vegetables. During the period 2007-2013 around 1 million farmers received direct payments support.  For the new programming period 2014-2020, the support under the 1^st Pillar affects the same number of ha, but with a much higher financial allocation.

Under the 2^nd Pillar, the main achievements of the period 2007-2013 can be summarized as follows:

• Setting-up 12 700 young farmers,
• Modernisation of some 2 800 agricultural holdings with a total investment (public and private) of  €1.87 billion,
• Restructuring of 52 700 semi-subsistence farms to become viable market-oriented holdings,
• Modernisation of around 310.000 ha of secondary irrigation infrastructure,
• Upgrade local infrastructure and basic services of around 900 communes (2300 km of roads, modernisation of respectively 1600 and 2400 Km of water/waste water infrastructure)
• Support for voluntary agri-environment commitments in some 321 000 holdings affecting 3.722.153 hectares or supporting organic farming on 85.212 hectares.

Under the CAP 1^st Pillar Romania received a total EU allocation of EUR 4.9 billion for the period 2007-2013, which highly increased up to EUR 11.9 billon  for the new period 2014-2020.  Under the 2^nd CAP pillar; the total EU allocation has remained at EUR 8.1billion for each period 2007-2013 and 2014-2020.

What changes are expected in 2020? What are the challenges to which the EU must find an answer in agriculture?

In the recent years there have been important developments in the broader policy environment surrounding EU agriculture:  farmers across Europe have faced unprecedented economic challenges in these past two years. We need to examine and improve the policy tools to support farmers in times of such crises and to make them more resilient in a globalised world. Also, when it comes to the environment, agriculture in Europe is facing challenges of an ecological and territorial nature, which are common as they do not stop at national borders and at the same time specific as they affect different parts of Europe differently. Furthermore, we need to do more on generational renewal, keeping the sector attractive for the next generation of innovating young farmers. We need the policy to deliver a better life and better jobs for the rural communities in which our farmers live, work and raise their families, with a sufficient income and fair return for their work.

For all these reasons, we have started a process to reflect on how to modernise and simplify the CAP: from February until May we held a public consultation on the future of the CAP, where I encouraged agri-food stakeholders from all parts of the EU to make their voices heard. The outcomes of this consultation process will be presented at a stakeholder conference on the 7^th of July. Taking into account the contributions to this debate, before the end of the year a Communication on the future of the CAP will highlight a range of policy options.