Finding new mechanisms to regulate agricultural markets

In a recent interview given to the French daily Les Echos, Dacian Ciolos, the European Commissioner-Designate for Agriculture, strongly defended the role of European agriculture and presented the key features of his course of action. Representing a bona fide plea for a solid CAP, the interview reviews the CAP’s benefits during the past 20 years: modernizing European agriculture, directing agricultural activities according to market requirements, securing food self-sufficiency goals… “The European Union agriculture is not short of assets. Basically, we must act in a way that our policies make the most of these advantages and that the public at large understands the benefits it can derive from them,” stated Ciolos.

The first challenge for the European Commissioner: price volatility. If European agricultural revenues dropped by 14 percent this year, it was primarily due to increased market volatility. “This means that we must implement several mechanisms to manage markets in the future” he said, without nonetheless “[going back] on previous reforms”.

The new challenge to be tackled by the European Commissioner for agriculture: Finding new instruments to regulate markets with an approach that was not selected at the latest European talks on CAP reform: “planning out political goals before planning out budget issues.”