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Europe

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF AGRARIAN POLICIES: AN OUTLOOK

by Mariann Fischer Boel

Mariann Fischer Boel became Member of Parliament (Folketinget) for Funen County Constituency on 12th December 1990. She is Member of the Liberal Party‘s General Council and of the management committee of the Parliamentary Liberal Party from 1990. Since the 22nd of November 2004, Mariann Boel is the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.

After providing an overview on the changes the EU faced with its eastward enlargement in 2004 and will face in the subsequent years, the EU Agricultural Commissioner Ms. Mariann Fischer Boel gives an insight into the future plans of international and EU agrarian policies. Ms. Boel sees the progress of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) as a most important task for 2005. Until the WTO meeting in Hong Kong later this year, further advances on international agrarian trade policies have to be achieved, primarily by removing distorting export subsidies, and agreeing on international terms of trade with focus on market access and export refunds. The EU, being the biggest importer of agricultural products from third world countries, wishes to set a good example with its „everything but arms“ initiative, which gives low developed countries increased access to the European market without the EU adding high import tariffs on their exports. By this, the EU wants to improve the chances of the poorest countries on the world markets. In addition, the challenges following the reforms of the Common European Agrarian Policy (CAP) are also to be faced. The comprehensive agricultural reform, which already was drafted in 1992 aims to increase the market orientation and competitiveness and will therefore replace direct production subsidies with income support based on environmental standards, size of farm, animalcare standards etc, in other terms a “decoupling” of subsidies based on output. This decoupling of direct payments will give farmers greater autonomy, when it comes to what, when and how to produce, as they will now not have to follow strict production quotas. In addition, support for animal protection and the preservation of the natural environment will be extended. This is fundamentally important as the quality and safety of food and its sustainable production can be counted as one of Europe’s major strengths. Society does not only demand safe and high-quality food, but at the same time the preservation of rural areas and the environment is also being stressed by ordinary consumers. The work farmers do in this respect, i.e. contributing towards preserving the environment in which we live and work, is to be increasingly appreciated through these reforms. Through the implementation of these reforms, a new era of European agrarian policies has begun. The agricultural sector has proved that it is prepared to participate actively in the adherence to the so-called Lisboan Strategy, which aims to strengthen our economy as a whole, to create jobs and to support a sustainable development. This strategy should help to reinforce the position of the EU, now the world’s second largest economic market, as a leading global player. However, economic growth resulting from further liberalisation of the world’s agricultural markets can only be achieved by preserving a strong European agricultural backbone.