Copa-Cogeca:urges EU farm ministers to agree final elements of CAP reform package

In a high-level meeting with the Lithuanian Presidency, Copa-Cogeca called for final elements of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform deal to be wrapped up. A final agreement is vital to enable farmers and cooperatives to get on with their production and investment plans, Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen insisted.
He continued: “The political agreement on CAP reform reached this Summer is a solution farmers can live with and represents a considerable improvement on what was initially proposed. I hope it can be formally approved by the EU Institutions as soon as possible.Outstanding budgetary issues needed to be agreed so that the new CAP can apply in full in 2015, with a transition phase in 2014”.
The move came as EU Farm Ministers discussed the state of play at their meeting today and before final trialogue talks between EU negotiators from the EU Commission, Council,Parliament continue on the package tomorrow.
Mr Pesonen went on to express his major concerns about the current trade liberalising talks between the EU and Canada. “The talks are unbalanced and must be improved. Canada is still demanding more beefmeat and porkmeat quotas, in terms of both volume and access conditions (balance between fresh meat and frozen meat) whilst giving very little in
exchange.”
Wrapping up, Mr Pesonen Copa-Cogeca welcomed release of the new EU Forest Strategy by the EU Commission and urged EU Ministers and MEPs to make progress on this initiative and give their views. A coherent framework is vital to ensure that we have a consistant approach across all policy areas which have an impact on forests. “Forests cover 40% of the EU area and are a key driver for growth and employment un EU rural areas at the same time as protecting ecosytems. The new EU Forest Strategy is based on the concept of sustainable forest management and recognises the multifunctional role of forests . It takes into account the new challenges of the sector like climate change, biodiversity and renewable energy. But we cannot accept that the “cascading use of wood” principle is introduced and promoted in the strategy as it endangers the competitiveness of the sector.The Strategy must therefore be revised”, he concluded