Speaking on behalf of Copa-Cogeca, Copa Vice-President Lorenzo Ramos, warned: “It is crucial to remove the bureaucracy under the proposals and give farmers and cooperatives more confidence in their long-term future. Some 40 million people are employed in the EU agri-food sector.

"It is vital to have a strong CAP, with a good budget behind it. I welcome the fact direct payments to farmers under the CAP will continue in the future. But the Commission’s proposal to have 6 layers of payments, such as for greening, coupled payments, is much more burdensome for farmers and governments and need to be re-worked."

"The Commission proposals to impose further mandatory environmental constraints on farmers, making up to 30 per cent of farmers direct payments dependent on complying with environmental constraints will also weaken the sector, raise farmers costs and threaten food security.

"That is why we are calling for more emphasis to be put on measures which improve the profitability, competitiveness and productivity of the EU agriculture and agri-food sector, as the same time as benefiting the environment. The future CAP must focus on improving the economic performance of farmers and cooperatives as well as improve the functioning of the food chain to ensure they get a better return from the market."

The Conference, which was held in Spain, was attended by MEPs, high-level officials, European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos and key figures from the new Spanish government.