Buchanan: we should address regional disparities in EU Agriculture and Rural Development
The Scottish councillor and NAT Commission Vice-President, Tony Buchanan, opened European Parliament's Agriculture Committee hearing on the regional implementation of Common Agricultural Policy, with its chair Adam Siekerski.
The well attended meeting, on October 15, brought together regional ministers from across Europe including Spain, Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, Croatia as well as Scottish Rural Affairs Minister Richard Lochhead MSP.
Cllr Buchanan, Leader of East Renfrewshire Council, at the meeting said: “There is much talk currently about the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as it seeks to bolster its legitimacy. Agricultural subsidies are under harsh scrutiny as they favour the largest and most productive farms and have accentuated regional specialisation and increasingly concentrated farming systems, resulting in significant regional disparities.
“The second pillar of the CAP is also important: It involves the Member States and local and regional authorities more directly, with the result that it is subject to widely differing national and regional interpretations depending on the Member State."
With reference to some of the disparities, he added: “Integrated rural development prevails in central and eastern European countries, competitiveness and business is prevalent in Southern Europe, the public good approach predominates in Nordic, UK and Ireland cases
"Some Member States, for instance, Germany or the UK, give more room for manoeuvre to the regions than another. Others such as Spain or Italy, though the programmes are regional they tend to draw heavily from nationally defined priorities.
As antidote to these regional differences, Cllr Buchanan highlighted the need to establish a new proccess the provides better support and financial aid for rural development as highlighted in CoR's CAP simplification draft Opinion, which he led.
He said: “There has been a significant delay in approving the Rural Development Programmes, and we have found that a significant reason for them is due to the inter service consultation process within the Commission. This process should be reviewed.
"We also need to increase EU financial support for diversification of rural development, community-led local development and counterbalance the growing concentration of agricultural production, which is leading to major regional disparities.
“We need to move towards a single audit model to prevent that beneficiaries get audited on the same issue several times and by different bodies.
"We should equally introduce more proportionate and outcome based approach to inspections and audit, on penalties and more on improvement and in ensuring that the broader outcomes of the CAP are achieved
The CAP Opinion, which was requested by Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan, will be put to vote on 23 September at NAT and is expected to be approved at the October Plenary Session.