Spring naar de inhoud
www.EU2004.nl
NederlandsFrançais
The official website of the Dutch EU presidency
HomeSitemapE-mail service
Search
arrow
Advanced search
newsCalendarMedia ServiceEUPresidencyPolicy Areasthe Netherlands
Navigation
dotted line
Policy Areas

Agriculture and Fisheries
arrow to the rightAll documents
Policy AreasPrint
Agriculture and Fisheries
Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality: Cees Veerman

During the Dutch Presidency, the following Councils will meet to discuss this policy area:

19-07-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
05-09-2004 t/m 07-09-2004 - Noordwijk - The Netherlands
18-10-2004 t/m 19-10-2004 - Luxembourg - Luxembourg
22-11-2004 t/m 23-11-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
21-12-2004 t/m 22-12-2004 - Brussels - Belgium
Click here for a full list of upcoming meetings

About Agriculture and Fisheries

The Agriculture and Fisheries Council brings together the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers from the Member States to discuss the formulation and implementation of common policies in these two key industries. The Agriculture Ministers generally meet once a month and discuss matters relating to the common market and price policy, rural development, food safety and animal health. The Fisheries Ministers meet to discuss the Common Fisheries Policy.

The Common Agricultural Policy

Introduction
Agricultural policy played an important part in European integration during the decades of reconstruction following the Second World War. Agricultural policy was one of the first policy areas in which Member States relinquished sovereignty in favour of the Community so that uniform, or at any rate harmonised, rules governed their common policy.

Original objectives
When this Community policy was established, a number of objectives were formulated for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). One area of major political concern was the need to guard against food shortages. The prime objective was therefore to increase agricultural productivity. This led to several other objectives, such as ensuring a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, stabilising markets, safeguarding food supplies and ensuring that supplies reached consumers at reasonable prices.

The common market organisations for the main agricultural products in the EU were the most important instrument. These ensured that producers received a guaranteed price for their products that was above the world market price. To protect producers from imports of cheap rival products, import levies were introduced. If prices in the Community fell below a certain level, the common market organisations had a variety of instruments with which to intervene and restore market equilibrium.

Against the background of these objectives the CAP quickly yielded results. In fact it was so successful that the CAP soon had to be adjusted to counter production surpluses in certain sectors. In the 1970s and 1980s it became painfully obvious that the CAP was not designed for a situation where the EU was a net exporter for some products. Out of this situation grew the infamous EU butter, grain and beef mountains, not to mention rising budget expenditure and conflicts with the EU's trading partners (who had similar problems and surpluses).
The first corrective action that was taken was to clamp down on supply by means of quantitative restrictions. This worked well in the dairy sector, for example, with the introduction of milk quotas in 1984.

External international pressure - the MacSharry reforms
Escalating trade conflicts increased international pressure to further adapt the CAP. Not surprisingly, therefore, the CAP was drastically reformed in the early 1990s, partly in response to pressure exerted during the Uruguay Round of WTO negotiations. The name of the Irish Agriculture Commissioner Ray MacSharry is inextricably linked to these reforms. The WTO agreed that the use of export refunds and internal aid must be reduced and that import tariffs must also be lowered. The MacSharry reforms introduced a new approach to the CAP, to be able to comply with these agreements. This approach was based on two elements: lowering intervention prices and offsetting the impact of these cuts by means of direct income support for farmers. The main aim was to gradually bring internal EU prices in line with world market prices. The MacSharry reforms marked the start of a continuous process of reform.

Changing society - internal pressure
A new and important step in this process was the 1999 decision of the Berlin European Council on Agenda 2000. One major difference with the MacSharry reforms, which came about mainly due to external pressure, is that the Agenda 2000 reforms were prompted by both internal and external factors. Evidently factors other than the growing world demand for agricultural products, further moves toward a more liberal global trading environment and the enlargement of the European Union played a part in the EU.
Citizens in present-day affluent Europe no longer think in the same way as they used to when the CAP was first devised. Today's prosperous citizens no longer need to wonder whether there is enough food. They are, however, extremely critical of the way in which food is produced, for example whether sufficient attention is paid to the environment, food safety, food quality and animal welfare.

The aim of Agenda 2000 was to adapt the CAP to modern requirements. The classic objectives of the CAP were reformulated and expanded in the Agenda 2000 Agreement. These updated objectives are as follows:
1. to increase the market orientation and competitiveness of the European agricultural sector;
2. to improve the safety and quality of foodstuffs;
3. to ensure stable incomes for farmers;
4. to ensure that agricultural policy takes environmental protection into account;
5. to strengthen the viability of rural areas;
6. to simplify policy and decentralise procedures.

Agenda 2000 took the 1992 reform of market policy several steps further. Rural development was also confirmed as the second pillar of the CAP.

Outcome of reforms
In Agenda 2000 it was decided to carry out a Mid-Term Review of the CAP. This began in July 2002. The aim was to examine to what extent the reforms implemented had achieved, or seemed conducive to, the objectives described above. There is no doubt that a great deal has been achieved in the reform process since 1992. There is now a better balance between supply and demand in the EU’s agricultural markets. The EU's butter, beef and grain mountains are now truly consigned to the past. Furthermore, the use of export refunds has been reduced from EUR 10 billion in the early 1990s to EUR 3.4 billion in 2002. These developments created a firm basis for the recent enlargement and the WTO negotiations.

This does not mean, however, that the reform process is now complete. Not all the objectives have been achieved yet, particularly as regards the capacity of the CAP to fulfil the expectations of a modern society. The food crises of the past few years have underlined this fact. Consumers are growing increasingly concerned about the way in which food is produced and the way in which the EU supports the agriculture sector. These consumer concerns and the current WTO trade talks are the main factors prompting further reform of the CAP.

Key elements of the reformed CAP
In future, the vast majority of CAP subsidies will be paid independently of volume of production. To avoid abandonment of production in certain areas, Member States may choose to maintain a limited link between subsidy and production under strict conditions. These new subsidies (known as 'single farm payments') will be linked to respect for environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards ('cross-compliance'). Severing the link between subsidies and production will make EU farmers more competitive and market oriented, while providing the necessary income stability.
The key elements of the reformed CAP are as follows:
-a single farm payment, independent of production; limited coupled elements may be maintained to avoid abandonment of production;
-this payment will be linked to respect for environmental, food safety, veterinary and plant health and animal welfare standards, as well as the requirement that all farmland be kept in good agricultural and environmental condition ('cross-compliance');
-starting in 2005, a strengthened rural development policy with more EU money and new measures to promote the environment, quality and animal welfare and to help farmers meet EU production standards;
-a reduction in direct payments ('modulation') for bigger farms to finance the new rural development policy;
-a mechanism for financial discipline to ensure that the farm budget fixed until 2013 is not overshot.


Common Fisheries Policy
The EU's marine fishing fleet is the fourth largest in the world and has been governed by the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) since 1983. The CFP gives the Community a legal system and a set of instruments with which it can control the fisheries sector. Fisheries policy is based on four foundations:
Legislation on access to fishing zones and conservation and management of fishery resources;
Legislation on the organisation of the markets in fish and fishery products;
Rules concerning structural issues in the fisheries sector; and
International relations.

The fisheries policy places a great deal of emphasis on the preservation and improvement of the fishery resources exploited by the fleets. In order to protect and manage fishery resources in Community waters, the instrument of catch limitations has been introduced into the CFP via a quota system for the Member States concerned. The Council decides on quotas every year for a large area of fishery resources that are fished commercially.

The CFP was substantially reformed at the beginning of 2003. The new policy seeks to adopt an ecosystem approach towards the development of the fisheries sector. Key new elements of the policy include the possibility of applying multi-annual management rules in addition to annual quotas. This would make it possible to introduce measures other than, for example, a reduction in the fishing effort - particularly in relation to stocks that have been heavily over-fished. Furthermore, a number of measures have been implemented to improve enforcement and monitoring of the fisheries policy and ensure better uniformity between the Member States. Stakeholders will also be more involved in the decision-making process. Lastly, the latest reform of the CFP tackles the excess capacity of the EU fleet by restricting public-sector financial assistance to the industry and targeting its use more effectively. It will remain permissible to provide funds for rationalisation and to improve safety on board, but aid to buy new vessels or modernise existing ones will be available only until the end of 2004. In a parallel development, the EU has proposed within the World Trade Organisation that the rest of the world take a similar approach to subsidies in the interest of sustainable development.

In 2004 the general policy guidelines, as set down in the reformed CFP, will be developed and implemented, devoting special attention to recovery plans for stocks that have been heavily over-fished and to finalising the policy on enforcement and monitoring.


See also:
arrow to the rightWebsite Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
arrow to the rightThe Council of the European Union - Agriculture and Fisheries
Top
About eu2004.nlPrivacy
Direct links
dotted line
arrowThe Presidency's priorities
arrowPresidency photos
arrowEU Enlargement
arrow'Europe. A beautiful idea?'
arrowEuropean Council
arrowLooking back briefly, July - December 2004
Links
www.eu2005.lu
www.europa.eu.int