22 June 2018
ICSA president Patrick Kent said he is very concerned at reports that the Environment Committee of the European Parliament is lobbying for increased control over the parliament’s position on CAP reform. “While ICSA is in favour of CAP rewarding farmers who go the extra mile on biodiversity or climate change actions, it is essential that decisions are made by those who best understand the farming perspective.”
“In our view, what is the point of a European Parliament Agriculture Committee (COMAGRI) if it is not to analyse and improve EU Commission proposals? This is not to say that the viewpoint of the Environment Committee (COMENVI) should be side-lined but on the other hand, this committee should not be the lead committee on CAP strategy or any element of the CAP reform dealing with payments to farmers.”
“The European Parliament Environment Committee took a very extreme position on biofuels which was detrimental to crop based biofuels grown by EU farmers. This is just one example of how it is important that dossiers which are vital to farmers are handled by committees that specialise in and understand complex agricultural issues.”
ICSA understands that a decision on this is imminent in the coming week and the association has lobbied in Brussels to help keep CAP reform under the umbrella of the agriculture committee.
