GEORGE LYON MSP - PAPER ON CAP TO FUEL DEBATE AT HOME AND IN EU

The publication of a working document on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013, written by Scottish MEP George Lyon for the EU’s Agriculture Committee, will help fuel the debate on CAP that is raging both at home and in Europe.

In his initial paper, Mr Lyon recognises the success of the CAP over the past 50 years in increasing productivity, contributing to a fair standard of living for farmers, stabilising markets, and making available supplies of food for consumers at reasonable prices. However, the CAP of the future will still need to deliver on these successes as well as meet more pressing challenges such as market volatility, food security, growing world population and to be part of the solution to climate change.

Commenting on the working document, NFU Scotland President Jim McLaren said:
“The current debate around Europe on the future of the CAP takes place against the background of a ratified Lisbon Treaty giving greater powers of decision-making to European politicians. With co-decision giving MEPs a larger say in how the CAP will be shaped after 2013, it is good for Scotland that we have George, a former farmer and former NFUS President, challenged with producing this paper on CAP reform for the influential Agriculture Committee.

“There is welcome recognition in George’s paper that the CAP has, for 50 years, delivered a good deal for the community’s farmers and consumers and a need to ensure that CAP continues to deliver for all after its scheduled reform in 2013. For that to happen, a number of major issues need to be addressed, not least the need to defend and justify the proportion of Europe’s budget currently taken up by delivering the CAP across 27 member states.

“To recognise agriculture’s part in tacking climate change, George has included some thought-provoking ideas in his working document that are sure to generate debate. One suggestion is that support for Less Favoured Areas – something that is crucial to Scottish agriculture – is moved from so-called Pillar Two payments into Pillar One, the same pot that currently delivers the Single Farm Payment scheme. The idea is that this would allow Pillar Two to focus on ‘greener’ measures. Providing there was no threat to funding levels, this certainly merits further discussion.

“George also poses some fundamental questions, many of which we are currently wrestling with as a Scottish industry as we plan our responses to our own Inquiry into the future of support to Scottish farming, headed up by Brian Pack. He asks what would be a fair basis for the calculation of SFP allocation to Member States; should we move from a historic to an area basis; if so, what should the phasing in period be and what extra flexibility should be allowed to Member States to deliver on their own priorities?

“While the Pack Inquiry in Scotland is already very focussed on trying to identify the best method of support delivery for Scottish farmers, this working document highlights that at a European level, consensus is still being sought on many of the broad principles around the CAP. I congratulate George on his initial thought-provoking work and look forward to the ensuing debate on CAP as it gathers momentum at home and in Europe.”