Changes necessary for CAP to work, says EU parliament's rapporteur

Although the forthcoming CAP health check should cement the last round of agriculture reforms, some changes need to be made, says Lutz Goepel. Speaking a week before parliament's vote on his own-initiative report in plenary, he said he was confident that the health check would lead to faster decoupling of production aid and greater flexibility. But it requires some amendments, he admits.“The commission tends to throw things up in the air when it releases a communication and waits for a reaction,” Goepel told journalists. “We as a parliament produced an opinion, an own-initiative report that has no legislative component at this stage.“But the vast majority [of the agriculture committee] supported this report, and we hope that the commission takes this into account.” His report, which was adopted by the agriculture committee in February, backs the general thrust of the commission's paper on the health check.But Goepel stressed that any change in the system of direct aid and increase in dairy quotas must be applied in the member states on a voluntary basis, and called on the commission to produce an impact assessment by 2011.He also demanded a study of the potential impact of an area-based direct payment premium, in particular with regard to farms with high livestock densities.And Goepel added that special animal premiums should not be altered for the time being, given the difficulties in the stockfarming sector following the exceptional rise in feed prices.  Instead, Goepel wants to move a limited amount of funds away from farming subsidies and into more targeted measures such as environment schemes, water management projects and help for setting up young farmers. Some of Europe's more remote regions facing economic difficulty could also be supported with this money, he said. Under Goepel's plans a maximum of four per cent of a farm's EU subsidy should be docked, but this should only apply to farms which receive annual handouts above €300,000.No fewer than 636 amendments were tabled in Goepel’s draft report, but compromises struck between the political groups to simplify the vote enable an agreement to be made. Following parliament’s vote in plenary, the final health check will be adopted under the French presidency before the end of 2008.

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