A debate on the 'Post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)' in this week's CoR plenary session saw engagement by EA President Nanette Maupertuis and member Caroline Dwane Stanley with Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen. Both Ms. Maupertuis and Ms. Dwane Stanley highlighted local and regional perspectives on the post-2027 CAP, promoting an adaptable and flexible framework that responds to the unique needs and strengths of local agricultural industries.
In his keynote address, Commissioner Hansen expressed firm commitment to shaping a flexible CAP that is tailored and regional and shaped in collaboration with local and regional authorities. Stressing that he seeks 'evolution rather than revolution' of the CAP, Mr. Hansen called for multi-level cooperation to ensure that it continues to support sustainable and resilient agricultural practices within its next manifestation in the post-2027 period. He outlined his priority outcomes, including boosting generational renewal of young farmers, enhancing food security, reducing excessive burdens for agricultural workers, maintaining investment support and incentives for best practices and finally, supporting local and regional authorities. He conclusively stated that a simplified and more locally responsive CAP will build an agricultural industry that serves Europe's people, farmers and food security.
Kicking off interventions on behalf of the EA Group, Caroline Dwane Stanley reiterated Commissioner Hansen's calls for a stronger regional and local dimension within the CAP, emphasising that a one-size-fits-all strategy cannot reflect diverse local realities nor build a sustainable and thriving agricultural sector. LRAs must therefore play a key role in developing a sustainable and intergenerationally fair post-2027 CAP that is 'more than a subsidy tool', but rather fosters rural development, empowers local communities and ensures faire incomes for young and small-scale farmers especially. To this end, she called for alignment of CAP instruments with rural development goals, economic competitiveness strategies, green transition imperatives and social justice considerations to combinedly champion sustainability, innovation and equity.
President Nanette Maupertuis subsequently intervened to condemn any moves to renationalise CAP or join it with Cohesion Policy within the Commission's upcoming Multi-Annual Financial Framework. She asserted that the CAP must remain distinct to maintain its strength and its capacity to act effectively on the ground. Ms. Maupertuis then proceeded to outline how the post-2027 CAP can better support Europe's peripheral and disadvantaged areas, including mountainous and insular territories, calling for more targeted support for traditional livestock farming, small production and sectoral supply chains as well the development and provision of special mechanisms for particularly vulnerable areas. Ultimately, she championed a place-based CAP that affects territorially balanced development of the EU's agricultural industry without compromising traditional industries.