Mairead McGuinness Fine Gael MEP

At the publication of the CAP post-2013 proposals

Mairead McGuinness MEP has said the European Commission is attempting to ‘micro-manage farms’, following today’s publication of new proposals to reform the Common Agricultural Proposals post 2013.

The Ireland East MEP and lead negotiator on direct payments for the largest political group in the Parliament, the EPP Group, has also warned that the CAP reform debate is intrinsically linked to the EU budget post 2014. The budget which will have a critical impact on future policy plans but it has not yet been resolved.

“The proposals contain moves towards a new, more targeted direct payment regime with many layers of payment. This is a cause for concern and the details will have to be thoroughly scrutinised.”

On the so-called ‘greening measures’, McGuinness said the proposals are overly prescriptive. “The plan to set aside 30% of direct payments to green farming practices is a backward step and cannot be justified.”

McGuinness describes the Agriculture Commissioner’s comments about clarifying competition law to give farmers more power as ‘too weak’. “We need a fundamental reassessment of competition law in order to protect producers. Competition law must be revaluated in order to address the concerns of farmers and firmly outline how the farming community can be adequately protected and guaranteed a fair price for their produce, balanced with the need to provide quality, reasonably priced food for consumers.

The MEP said the proposals outlined today fail to address the real challenges facing agriculture: “We cannot forget the pressure farm incomes are under. Commodity prices are rising but so too are production costs while agriculture productivity is falling. These reforms fail to address this serious challenge to agriculture and food production.”