The 'CAP 2013 group', which brings together French NGOs and agricultural organisations to debate the future of the CAP, has submitted its priorities for the implementation of the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy to the French Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Michel Barnier. The rationale for aid payments and their targeting will be central to discussions on the future of the CAP. It is therefore essential and a matter of some urgency to anticipate the nature of future changes to the CAP without waiting until 2013. The implementation of the changes brought about by the Health Check should help the CAP prepare for the future. This should involve placing as much emphasis as possible on making French agriculture more sustainable.

With this is mind, the organisations of the 'CAP 2013 group' set out the following principles for the CAP to follow:

• consistency with the ‘farm commitments’ for sustainable agriculture set out by the Grenelle de l’environnement;
• a legitimate CAP based on the recoupling of environmental and social support;
• the simplification of existing provisions by the improved targeting of aid payments, in order to increase public understanding of the CAP;
• significant reorientation of aid within Pillar 1 as this is the main lever to promote sustainable agriculture and to establish its legitimacy;
• anticipation of the changes that will affect the CAP post-2013, to facilitate informed decisions and their rapid implementation from 2010 onwards.

According to our group's thinking, these principles lead to eight priorities, as follows:

1. Change the unfair distribution of subsidies amongst farmers, moving towards a flat-rate income support;
2. Support the increase of the organically-farmed agricultural area by supporting those farmers already in organic production;
3. Create a genuine policy for grasslands under Pillar 1;
4. Increase the support for vulnerable livestock production systems which are important for land management;
5. Empower local protein supply for livestock sectors;
6. Reinforce Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition requirements in agronomic practice (for example, leguminous crop rotation);
7. Protect natural resources and sensitive natural areas; and
8. Address the “new challenges” through the use of measures that support innovative and ecologically sound farming and food production systems.

The details of our proposals can be found here (in French).