A strong CAP is one of the priorities of the Spanish EU Presidency

The Spanish Secretary of State for Rural Affairs and Water, Josep Puxeu, pleaded for a ‘reform of EU legislation and the Common Market Organization’ to encourage the sector to reach contract agreements that are compatible with competition rules, in a speech to the European Congress of Young Farmers held at Seville from 3 to 6 February.

This announcement follows on the heels of that by the Spanish Minister for Agriculture, Elena Espinosa, at the Council meeting of agriculture ministers on Monday 18 January last that maintaining a strong CAP is one of the priorities of the Spanish presidency. ‘We think it is necessary to debate and study the maintenance of common European instruments for managing markets and managing crises in order to face up to the future of the CAP,’ she said..

The proactive approach Spain is intending to bring to European policy to protect agricultural production threatened by the hyper-volatile market prices is one that we support fully. It remains to be seen what these verbal undertakings actually lead to.