The United Kingdom, Sweden and Latvia refuse to pledge to an “ambitious” CAP.

Following the agreement on the CAP Health Report reached at the latest meeting of agriculture ministers on November 20, Michel Barnier chose to take advantage of an apparent consensus by presenting member states with a declaration of principle upholding the need to retain an “ambitious” common agricultural policy (CAP) after 2013.

During a presentation to the European Union agriculture ministers in Brussels on November 28, the text of the declaration, which underlines some of the major general principles on the strategic importance of agriculture for Europe and the need to maintain a suitable budget, did not, unfortunately, get unanimous approval. Three nations––the United Kingdom, Sweden and Latvia––refused to sign it, thus reducing the text to a document “of the European Union presidency” and not as one drafted on behalf of the entire European Union.

This was not really a surprise since these countries––regarded as some of the CAP’s harshest critics––want to reduce the post-2013 agricultural budget and are therefore opposed to any proposal that would not reflect their views.

Nevertheless, the rift that opposes northern and southern nations regarding the CAP now seems to be shrinking, a sign that some consensus on the strategic and specific feature of agriculture is indeed surfacing. Let us hope that the few years left before the 2013 deadline will be enough time to convince the last challenging countries to abandon their purely budgetary vision of the CAP and to permit the European Union to discuss agricultural issues with only one voice.