By Martin Banks - 19th August 2010
This shows that the public feel strongly about the CAP
Dacian Ciolos
A conference on the future of EU agriculture policy was told that farmers should "not be embarrassed" because they receive support from public funds.
The Brussels conference was part of the ongoing debate about the future of the common agricultural policy after 2013.
One of the keynote speakers was EU agriculture and rural development commissioner Dacian Ciolos, who said a "common vision" had started to emerge on how the CAP should look in future.
He said, "We must now design our responses for some major challenges, including food production, globalisation, the environment, economic issues, a territorial approach, diversity and simplification.
"We must seek economic performance, while respecting the balance of nature."
He added, "I want to say very clearly that farmers need not be embarrassed because they receive support from public funds."
The comment was seen as a riposte to those who have criticised what is claimed to be the disproportionate amount of EU funding that goes to the farming sector.
The conference, organised by the commission, sought to debate and draw conclusions from the public debate on the post-2013 policy launched by the executive in April.
Ciolos said the exchanges would form a useful platform for discussion before the commission drafts its communication on the future of the CAP, due for publication in November this year.
He said the public consultation exercise had triggered a "strong" public response, with nearly 6000 internet contributions from the public in two months as well as positions from 80 think tanks and 93 NGOs.
There were more than 1000 responses from Germany and Poland and more than 100 from France, Latvia, Austria, Belgium and the UK, he said.
"This shows that the public feel strongly about the CAP and the responses have illustrated that our policy is not only about food production but also about the provision of broader public goods," he added.
"This illustrates my fundamental belief that the CAP is not just for farmers but is for all EU citizens as taxpayers and consumers."
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