CAP reform

Childhood Obesity - what can the EU do?

The European Heart Network, an EPHA member, has produced a set of actions and guidelines on addressing child obesity based on a previous report on policy options to prevent child obesity.
The guidelines outline policy priority options and includes a section on plans agreed at European level, as well as detailing the plans of 14 European countries: Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, and United Kingdom.
At (...)

Fruit and Vegetable Policy in the European Union

The European Heart Network (EHN), an EPHA member, has recently published a report titled "Fruit and Vegetable Policy in the European Union" which examines the potential effect of the EU Common Agricultural Policy fruit and vegetable regime on the burden of cardiovascular disease (CDV).
Cardiovascular risk factors are well known and mostly amenable to change. Public health policies aimed at reducing rates of cardiovascular diseases have typically emphasised the traditional risk factors such (...)

Launching of a European and international campaign to change the CAP

A new campaign has been launched on May 24 to change the European Agriculture Policy. The campaign includes a European and international call with the aim of changing EU priorities and promoting the principle of food sovereignty to achieve a legitimate, sustainable and supportive CAP.
The organisations signing the appeal call the farmers’ organisations and the other associations from civil society to campaign together to force governments and international authorities to change the EU (...)

School Fruit Scheme - step forward in the CAP reform, August 2008.

The European Commission, DG Agriculture, proposes a new School Fruit Scheme worth €90 million per year as the latest part of the ’Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity and health related issues’.
European Commission (DG Agri) invites submission of posters for forthcoming conference on School Fruit Scheme
On 8 July 2008, the European Commission presented its proposal for the introduction of an EU-wide School Fruit Scheme (SFS).
In order to kick-start the linked (...)

**Update** New version of the EU School Milk Scheme has been adopted.

On 8 July 2008, the European Commission adopted the new EU School Milk Scheme proposal, applying from August 2008. The Commission stated that this new EU School Milk Scheme will benefit a larger number of children and has increased attention with regards to a healthier diet and eating habits for children.
Background
On 26 September 2007, the Council adopted a package of measures that introduced a flat-rate subsidy for the European School Milk Scheme. This meant that for the first time, (...)

Agriculture Commissioner speaks to the AGRI Committee on CAP

24 June 2008, the European Parliament Agriculture and Rural Development committee met to discuss the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) health check. Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, spoke to the committee and received questions.
Commissioner Boel opened by saying that in light of the current food crisis, CAP reform was very urgent. On the issue of food security, she said it must be viewed from a broader perspective. She stressed that the package on (...)

CAP Health Check goes a step further towards modernisation and simplification

European Commission further modernises and streamlines the Common Agricultural Policy in response to increasing food prices. Reforms remove restrictions and standardise payments. Rural Development to play a larger part in European agriculture.
Mariann Fischer Boel (the EU agriculture commissioner) presented a reform package on the 20th of May, in a bid to not only reform the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) but also to slow down the soaring food prices.
The ’Health Check’ is aimed at (...)

The ongoing CAP reform

Parliament wants more flexibility on CAP reform
A Parliament own-initiative report on Commission proposals to reform the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) says Member States need more flexibility to promote local sectors and to decide upon direct aid to provide a safety net in the event of a major crisis.
The report, adopted by an overwhelming majority (510 votes to 88, with 80 abstentions) insists on upholding the concept of a "sustainable, competitive and multifunctional agriculture". (...)

A CAP on health: a report by the Faculty of Public Health

The Faculty of Public Health published in march 2007 a report on the impact of the EU common agricultural Policy on public health, titled “A CAP on health?”.
The current obesity epidemic has put in the limelight the importance of diet on our health. The most significant determinant of food choice are price and availability. These two factors are partly regulated by the EU Common Agricultural Policy.
A new report issued by the Faculty of Public Health shows the consequences on (...)

Ahead of the 2008 reform of the CAP: How healthy is the current CAP?

The public health community has kicked off work ahead of the Common Agriculture Policy reform in 2008-2009, in order to ensure that the health check is taken into account in the future CAP schemes: The North West of England Health Brussels Office (NWHBO) is searching for partners interested in working on Agriculture and Health, while the UK Faculty of Public Health has released a report entitled A CAP on Health?
North West of England search for EU Partners - Achieving a healthy reform of (...)

European Commission proposals to reform the fruits and vegetable market

The European Commission has announced plans to support fruit and vegetable production, ahead of the 2008 review of the Common Agriculture Policy.
According to the Commission, the reforms aim to improve competitiviness, protect farmers from crisis, and implement fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption and environmental protection.
It takes stock on a consultation launched in 2006, to which EPHA had responded.
The proposals are as follows:
Closing the link between subsidies and the amount of (...)

European Commission Reclaims Millions from Member States...Again

Just a couple of months ago, in August 2006, the European Commission found that a total of €161.9 million of EU farm money was misspent by Member States and must be reimbursed.
Now in October 2006 it appears that the Commission has decided to recover a much larger figure of money. The revised total of €317.3 million is almost twice the original sum.
Similar to the August fiasco, the money will be recovered because of inadequate control procedures or non-compliance with EU rules on (...)

Transparency over CAP expenditures

EU governments have agreed to publish the names of all recipients of the Union’s farm subsidies and how much they receive from 2009 at the latest, subject to final agreement with the European Parliament.
Such disclosure should lead to better transparency over the end beneficiaries of all EU funds, including the Union’s annual €60 billion spending on farm subsidies. This is in line with the recent debates over the European Transparency Initiative and transparency of the European Council. (...)

Assessing the health impact of Agriculture policies in the EU and the US

The Swedish Institute for Public Health issued a health impact assessment on the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), which has recently been complemented by an equivalent report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in the United States of America.
Both reports demonstrate that agriculture policies on both sides of the Atlantic do not contribute to healthier diets at the moment.
Ahead of the CAP reform in 2008, the Common Market Organisation on wine is already in discussion and (...)

Fourth meeting of the Diet, Physical Activity and Health - EU Platform for Action

The fourth plenary meeting of the European Union Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health took place on 30 November 2005 in Brussels. The meeting was chaired by Robert Madelin, Director General of DG SANCO at the European Commission.
Nutrition and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
Following the chair’s introduction, the floor was given to Mr Lars Hoelgaard, Deputy Director-General of DG Agriculture, who delivered a presentation on the "CAP contribution to the European Platform on (...)

MEPs discuss plans to reform EU sugar subsidies

In a meeting at the European Parliament of the stakeholder networks and organisations concerned with the reform of the EU-sugar regime organised by the European Food Sovereignty Platform and the Green Group/EFA on 29 November 2004, the needs of European society and developing countries were discussed.
This meeting was organised on the eve of the hearing on the proposed sugar reform in the EP agriculture, development and international trade committees.
The EU will have to reduce subsidies (...)

Agriculture Council discusses sugar and fruit and vegetables

The 22-23 November 2004 meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, discussed key reforms to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Sugar Reform
The Council completed its thorough examination of the Commission’s Communication on the sugar sector reform.
Summary of the Council discussions:
the need for a reform: all delegations agreed that the status quo in the Common Market Organisation (CMO) for sugar is not sustainable;
the international aspects of sugar: a large majority (...)

Campaign for GMO free zones launched

The Assembly of European Regions (AER) and Friends of the Earth (FoE) launched a joint campaign in Strasbourg on 14 September that aims to protect traditional crops from the consequences of the introduction of new genetic technologies.
The AER and FoE will lobby, among other things, for a European legal framework on the coexistence of traditional and transgenic crops as well as a legal recognition of GMO - free zones in Europe.
The two groups call for several measures to be implemented (...)

Food and nutrition on the European agenda

DG SANCO has established a new Advisory Group on the food chain. The new group will bring together key stakeholders including farmers, the food industry, retailers, consumer organisations and others to advise the European Commission on food safety policy. It will meet at least twice a year and consist of up to 45 members from EU-level associations. Reflecting the Commission’s "farm to fork" approach to food safety, the group will be consulted on matters ranging from policy on pesticides (...)

European green party tackles food and nutrition

The European Green party has launched a new campaign on to examine agriculture, food and nutrition policies in the EU.
The campaign is designed to provoke public debate and action on issues on key issues such as:
How to improve the safety of food without sacrificing quality and taste
How to prevent Europe’s agriculture and environment from being deliberately contaminated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
How to fish in a manner that does not destroy the oceans and coastal (...)

A critique of EU subsidies for tobacco farmers

The issue of EU subsidies for tobacco farmers is more complex and is linked to the historical traditions of the CAP, the specific circumstances of the small farms that grow tobacco and a political support for maintaining rural agricultural communities.
Through the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), the EU provides about 1 billion Euros per year (1% of the EU budget) to European farmers to grow tobacco, much of which is destined for cigarettes in the developing world.
In 2002, a reform of the (...)

NGOs sing ’Krakow Declaration’ for a better CAP

180 NGOs have signed the ’Krakov declaration’.
Friends of the Earth Europe organised a campaign to collect signatures for the ’Krakow Declaration’ to be presented to the NGO Conference ’EU Accession and Agriculture: making CAP work for People and the Environment’, organised by Polish Ecological Club, Friends of the Earth Europe, the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Environment, in Krakow on November 7 & 8.
The Krakov Declaration calls for a more sustainable, (...)

*UPDATED* Reforming the EU wine sector

*UPDATED with the adoption of the European Parliament report*. The European Commission unveils its proposal for a reform of the wine sector, ahead of the 2008 reform of the Common Agriculture Policy.
The European Commission’s objectives are to simplify existing rules, making labelling clearer and encourage better quality production.
Annually, the EU produces a surplus of wine which is likely to increase since European producers have lost market to ’new world’ competitors (eg the USA, (...)

EU countries could do more for poorer countries

"EU Heroes and Villains" is the joint NGO briefing paper published by Oxfam, Eurodad and ActionAid which points out which EU countries are living up to their promises on aid, trade, and debt. It also recommends EU Member States to take very specific actions to improve.
The paper exposes Italy as the EU country that spends the least of its Gross National Income (GNI) on aid. Denmark is the one that gives the most: 0.84 (although it used to give more in the past).
Regarding basic social (...)

Tobacco farmers protest about CAP reform

The Agriculture Council held an exchange of views on the reform concerning the tobacco sector on 17 November 2003.
The discussion follows the Council’s June 2003 decision regarding the 2003 CAP reform proposal and the Commission’s Communication ("Accomplishing a sustainable agricultural model for Europe through the reformed CAP - the tobacco, olive oil, cotton and sugar sectors") of 23 September 2003.
The EU’s tobacco regime has come under heavy criticism for subsidising tobacco growers (...)