In late 2009, leading agricultural economists from all over Europe issued a declaration on ‘A Common Agricultural Policy for European Public Goods’. They proposed the abolition of market intervention and blanket income support to farmers, and outlined a more efficient, greener CAP. Since then, DG Agriculture, the European Parliament and many member states have adopted positions that closely stick to the status quo. Now a new declaration ‘For an Ambitious Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy’ has been published.

On October 19, the European Commission has finally released its conclusions on the budget review originally due for 2008/09. It compares poorly to the draft document that leaked quite exactly one year earlier. While the draft dedicated almost 3 pages to the CAP, this has shrunk to little more than one page in the official communication.

In the semi-official document from DG Agri which is currently circulating, there are certain elements which could be read as signs of hope for European farmers, and in particular for small farms, which have been forgotten by European policy in the past.

The leaked copy of the Common Agriculture Policy reform proposal proposes a few steps in the direction of a greener and more effective CAP but fails to provide a solid foundation that would allow the CAP to survive the ever growing budgetary pressures.

The undersigned European and Belgian organizations, that signed the European Food declaration published last March, jointly requested the EU Ministers for agriculture and Commissioner Ciolos who met in La Hulpe to definitively address the challenges and demands placed on consumers and farmers at the European and Global level.