As work gets underway to define the post-2027 CAP, the challenges are immense: an unstable geopolitical context; the drastic disappearance of farms and loss of several hundred farmers every day, quickly replaced by large-scale and industrialised agricultural models; high poverty levels among the smallest farmers ; monopolisation by a few actors of production means such as water and land, etc.; increasingly frequent extreme climate and health events; soil depletion; pollution linked to agricultural practices; and increases in food insecurity, to name but a few.
The European Union set itself ten objectives for the CAP in 2023 and unfortunately, not a single one has yet to be achieved. In 1962, the Treaty of Rome outlined the CAP objectives of ensuring satisfactory incomes for farmers, fair prices for consumers and stable agricultural markets. In view of the protests of 2024, the average age of farmers in the European Union – a shocking 57 years old – and the drastic increase in food insecurity (illustrated by the increase in requests for emergency food aid and caused by the decline in purchasing power), it is clear that the EU has also failed to achieve its founding objectives.
The next reform cannot ignore this deplorable situation. ECVC demands that this public policy be designed to truly achieve these objectives, using all its instruments to achieve the best possible outcomes. Food sovereignty must be restored through market regulation and a strong budget allocated according to appropriate criteria to ensure a significant change of direction. The ability of European agriculture to produce food for its citizens depends on it.
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Contact information
Emma Courtine
EN, FR, ES
ECVC Policy Officer
emma.courtine@eurovia.org
+32 2 217 31 12