The French position is to retain the current budget and structure of the CAP, while transferring some of the payments from mainstream farming towards quality-focused and environmentally-friendly enterprises, such as the Alpine farms and co-ops the ministers visited on Monday.
Such proposals fit with the Irish stance. “We put forward a very strong view that production must be strengthened and that global food security, climate change and the environment in general are all issues that must be addressed”, said minister for agriculture Brendan Smith. Austria, too, wants to place agriculture at the centre of EU budget preparations and retain a two-pillar approach to the CAP – pillar one for market and production support, pillar two for rural development and environmental measures.
As expected, those views differ from the British outlook, which calls for cuts in the CAP budget after 2013, while Denmark advocates the phasing out of direct payments.
Meanwhile, The Netherlands would like to scrap pillar one altogether and limit financial intervention to innovation support and second-pillar payments.

"Around 20 countries" supportive of a regulated CAP

Barnier said that around 20 countries were supportive of a regulated common policy with a budget, while others trusted the market. He also said a group of countries wanted to “put environment at the centre of the CAP”.
Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel said there is no need to “completely rewrite the CAP” but warned the ministers of “enormous pressures on the European budget.” “We need to be able to explain in a very clear and understandable language why we need money for agriculture”, she said.
In her view, this could be achieved by moving from blanket payments such as SFPs towards more “targeted” aid. Barnier argued that targeting could be achieved through coupled payments, which still exist for a wide number of enterprises in France, but Fischer-Boel dismissed the suggestion immediately – with a great laugh.

Demonstration

The relaxed atmosphere might have been due to the strict separation between the officials and the press, or to the massive police protection around the luxury lakeside hotel where the ministers and commissioners met. A demonstration by militant farmers' associations and anti-globalisation activists calling to “change the CAP” and “put agriculture in the hands of farmers, not financiers” on Sunday remained quiet. “Agricultural policy should bring stability. We are told to review our production regularly – that's not easy”, said Thierry Pallanche, a dairy, pig and poultry farmer among the 2,000 to 3,000 demonstrators.
More importantly, the low intensity of debates on this crucial issue has to do with the fact that no country has yet entered into the specifics of what they want after 2013. Despite the differences, the ministers will now seek to establish a common strategy before budget discussions start in 2010. The Czech Republic, which will take over the EU presidency in January, has already found a topic for its informal agricultural council: the future of the CAP.

Farm visits illustrate French position

By showing his EU colleagues around dairy farms in his native French Alps, Michel Barnier illustrated his view that the EU should support a diversity of farming enterprises.
The 12 members of the Saint-Ours co-op, near Annecy, produce around 3 million litres of milk per year. They have an agreement with a processor who sends in staff to produce Tomme de Savoie cheese on the premises. Despite the price premium they get for their quality product and subsidies from the local authority, they are finding it hard to make ends meet. They think the current CAP has exacerbated “unfair competition” between them and farmers in less mountainous areas.
“Grass has always been under-estimated”, said local dairy farmer Jean-Louis Coutaz. “A farmer who grows maize to feed his cattle gets arable aid, but we don't.”
Christian Convers, another mountain dairy farmer, called on the EU to establish a pasture premium of €200 per hectare to fill the gap he and his colleagues think separates them from grain-based dairy farms.
A few miles away, 4500 feet in altitude, the Brunet family keep 120 goats on  commonages and make farmhouse cheese. While the mother and daughter make their living from the farm, the father has full-time off-farm employment. “Subsidies? They should take them away or make them worthwhile”, he says. The family received €6,250 in payments last year.
The message struck a chord with the Irish delegation. “All the farm representatives we heard made the point that grass-based farming should be defended and we would be very supportive of that”, minister for agriculture Brendan Smith said.
It remains to be seen whether the plight of small dairy farmers affects the position of his Danish or British counterparts.

Coming soon: sheep package and CAP health check

European ministers also addressed some of the more urgent issues on the table.

  • Following the recent Limoges meeting, Brendan Smith (photo) reiterated his support for the French proposal to redirect unused CAP funds into an emergency package for sheep farmers. He expects the French presidency of the EU to put forward a formal proposal with the Commission by the end of this year.
  • Regarding the unresolved issues in the CAP health check, Brendan Smith said: “We want to see an increase in milk quota for a soft landing by 2015.” Despite the downward milk price trend, the phasing out of quotas by 2015 was not questioned during the informal council. Mariann Fischer-Boel insisted that the decoupling of dairy aid in 2003 was the Commission's final answer to demands for aid from the sector. “There will be no new money for the dairy sector”, she said.
  • Ireland is still opposing the Commission's increased modulation proposals. “Our farmers saw the single farm payment as a permanent income”, the minister argued.
  • Michel Barnier confirmed that the French presidency was planning to strike a final agreement on the CAP health check the week of November 18, just after the European Parliament debates the issue.

Scientist says lack of preparedness threatens animal and human health

A top animal health expert told European ministers for agriculture that the EU is not prepared to face emerging animal diseases and that widespread vaccination could be the only solution to stop new epidemics.
“We need to work more on early pathogen detection”, said Dr Albert Osterhaus, head of the department of virology at the Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam, speaking at the opening of the informal agricultural council on Monday. “Regarding international collaboration and coordination, we have made some progress, but we are not there yet”, he added.
According to the virologist, those are key areas to prevent the spread of new animal diseases. Going back over recent epidemics, he noted that the various steps in the transmission of BSE to humans gave several opportunities for intervention, but that “we did not do it fast enough”. In the case of SARS, he said that unprecedented co-operation between scientists at international level allowed for the identification of the virus behind the disease.

Vaccination

Regarding bird flu, Dr Osterhaus said that the avian virus could transform into a human type reminiscent of the Spanish of Japanese flu epidemics. “Is this going to happen? Yes. Are we prepared? No”, he said.
He pointed out that Vietnam, which implemented a strict vaccination programme against bird flu in 2006, reported no human cases while neighbouring countries suffered tragedies. This prompted a debate between minsters about vaccination policies, as France is in the process of vaccinating 40 million animals against both type 1 and type 8 of bluetongue disease.
While the German representative wished to abandon the non-vaccination principle, the Danish minister said she was “reluctant about vaccination”. Dr Osterhaus said a solution could be the development of so-called “DIVA vaccines”, which allow blood tests to detect whether an animal was infected by a disease or simply vaccinated – key information when exporting animal products.