Farm Subsidy Row
January 18, 2008
Speaking before the International Green Week opened in the German capital Friday, Horst Seehofer announced he was spoiling for a fight over the EU commissioner for agriculture's planned changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Seehofer said that he was against the ground rules for EU subsidies being altered every year.
Germany, as the primary funder of the CAP, is concerned that huge farms formed during the communist period in the east of the country would be hit if a maximum limit is applied to direct grants to farm enterprises.
The European Commission is considering capping payments to the largest farms, increasing the minimum amount of land a farmer has to own to qualify for payments, and imposing tighter environmental rules on farmers as part of its so-called "health check" on the CAP.
"Of course we have to be willing to compromise," Seehofer said. "But we are going to fight very, very hard for our corner." EU farm ministers are to negotiate on Monday in Brussels on the changes.
Subsidies still destined for farming community, says EU
EU Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel stuck to her guns saying that even with changes, the subsidies would still end up in the farming community, but would be spent on rural development instead. There were no plans to put at risk the economic survival of farm enterprises.
The European Union launched its latest review of its agriculture policy -- the most expensive issue in its portfolio, and one of the most explosive -- in November.
"It's quite normal for perfectly healthy people to visit their doctor to see whether they need to do anything different... In the same way, we need to look at whether we need to adjust the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for an EU of 27 and a rapidly changing world," Fischer Boel said.
Under the "health check", the Commission is set to consult with EU member states, farmers and NGOs over ways to make the CAP more effective without making it more expensive. The Commission is expected to propose legally-binding changes to the current CAP in spring 2008.
The CAP is already the EU's costliest policy, accounting for some 50 billion euros ($73.3 billion) per year -- over 40 per cent of the total EU budget -- in a complex system of payments based on farm size, type of crop and volume produced, among other factors.
Agriculture policy a consistent sore point
The CAP has often been the source of bitter contention between member states -- most recently in 2003, when a major reform fell foul of an all-out row between France and Britain.
France is the largest recipient of CAP funds, while Britain receives a multi-billion-euro rebate from the EU every year because it gets so little from the CAP. Each side regularly accuses the other of taking unfair advantage of the system.
The potential row over subsidies is therefore nothing new and rather than putting Green Week under a cloud, it will be just one of many debates going on around the Berlin Conference Center where the international agriculture event is staged. The dispute is sure to feature during the International Conference of the Ministers of Agriculture which takes place there this weekend.
The International Green Week Berlin 2008 runs from January 18 to 27, with displays representing all areas of the food industry, agriculture and horticulture.