The European Commission’s blueprint for a future CAP has sparked a variety of reactions from both lobbyists and stakeholders. Cap2020 has brought together a selection of responses to the Communication which can be viewed in this article.

The Communication published by the European Commission on 18 November (COM(2010) 672 final) represents a potentially bold move to reorient the CAP into a policy that meets the needs of EU society and the challenges – economic, social and environmental – of the next decade. However, the paper is stronger on ideas than specifics.

A new IEEP report analyses the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of the substantial additional biofuel usage that will be generated up to 2020 by the targets under the EU renewable energy Directive. IEEP’s report examines the likely impact of biofuels in terms of physical change in land usage patterns and consequent greenhouse gas emissions.

The fortifications around the old CAP are being lowered and we are starting to witness the birth pangs of the new one. The leaked DG Agri Communication on the future of the CAP is not the most transparent paper and has been criticised from several different sides – not perhaps itself an unhealthy sign. However, beneath the sometimes conflicting signals there is a sense of clearer objectives than the present policy and some willingness to tackle the shibboleths that have constrained progress for so long.

Talks at the October Agriculture Council mostly centred on the simplification measures proposed by the Commission to bring the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in line with the Lisbon Treaty. In the margins it emerged that a meeting was planned between the EU-12 Agriculture Ministers, convened by Polish Minister Marek Sawicki in response to the Franco-German position paper.

A draft copy of the Commission’s much anticipated Communication on the future CAP, expected to be launched formally on 17 November, has been leaked ahead of its release into inter-service consultation.

Agriculture Ministers met on 19-21 September for the last Informal Agriculture Council ahead of the release of the Commission’s Communication on the future of the CAP post 2013.

A common position from France and Germany on the future of the CAP was released on 14 September, in advance of the Informal Agriculture Council in La Hulpe and the anticipated publication of the Commission’s Communication on the EU Budget, due at the end of September. The position paper, with the strapline ‘new challenges and expectations for food, biomass and environment’ calls for a strong CAP with a greater emphasis on market orientation as well as the exploration of insurance schemes and mutual funds to stabilise farmer’s incomes.

The Belgium Presidency has released a seven page working document ahead of the forthcoming Informal Agriculture Council to be held in La Hulpe on 19-21 September. The document, entitled ‘Choosing today for a stronger CAP tomorrow’ forms the background for discussion at the Informal meeting.

While the CAP reform debate is in full swing, the UK countries have been consulting on the structure and content of their future agricultural policies as part of the transition away from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.

30 actions to transform the Commission’s proposals into a genuine transition tool.

Just a few days before EU Agriculture Ministers meet for the informal Council in Vienna and on the basis of the preparatory questions sent by the presidency to the delegations, the authors of this blog post identify the key elements for securing vibrant rural areas in the future CAP.

Those of us with long memories of CAP reforms know that there can be many dramas, dead ends and diversions along the way. Nonetheless, there has been a discernible direction of travel for two decades or more.