MEPs Set for Marathon CAP Vote
EU - The English National Farmers Union has urged Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to strip out the bureaucracy of CAP reform proposals and focus on providing the conditions for farmers to thrive, ahead of a marathon vote on CAP reform in the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee next week.
17 January 2013
2 minute read
By: In total MEPs submitted nearly 8,000 amendments to the European Commission’s controversial CAP reform proposals.
NFU deputy president Meurig Raymond said: “We have been working with the MEPs throughout the process, but this is a particularly important time where the politicians will really put their stamp on the reform process.
“Over the past few weeks we have sifted through the 8,000 amendments to identify which should be supported in the vote – namely those that will strip out unnecessary bureaucracy, provide the conditions for farmers to thrive in an open market and allow our producers to compete on a level playing field with the rest of Europe.
“In particular we are supporting measures to change the Commission’s greening proposals which, as they stand, would add huge administrative complexity and create a sizeable dent in our productive capacity.
“We are also working with MEPs to limit Defra's ambition to unilaterally cut farm payments by up to 20 per cent and to make sure there is an acceptable transition period to allow farmers sufficient time to adjust to the move away from the historical payment model.“
The Agriculture Committee will vote on Wednesday January 23 and Thursday January 24 and ahead of the vote the NFU is contacting the MEPs and providing them with suggested voting lists.
