Welcome for Euro parliament's backing for CAP reform plans

Politicians and Scottish farming leaders yesterday expressed their support for the latest version of the Common Agricultural Policy which gained the almost unanimous backing of the European Parliament Agriculture Committee this week.

The latest version has discarded some of the more complex "green" requirements suggested by the German MEP, Albert Dess, and has put food production at the heart of the policy.

NFU Scotland president Nigel Miller said it was encouraging that MEPs had listened to industry calls on agricultural production's key role.

"They will have a very important role to play in determining the future shape of the CAP now that the European Parliament has powers of co-decision on the future of CAP," he said.

Miller accepted that there would a "green" or environmental linkage to direct support payments in the new policy but said it was essential that greening was delivered through simple measures that could be delivered on farms without harming productivity and farm competitiveness.

The EU committee vote was also welcomed by George Lyon MEP who was the shadow rapporteur on the report. He believed the main thrust of the policy in delivering a fairer distribution of direct payments would be "of significant benefit to Scottish farmers".

Fellow Scottish MEP Alyn Smith thought the report had "worked out pretty well for Scottish farming". He was especially pleased that the committee had thrown out a proposal from the UK government which would have seen direct payments phased out and the overall CAP budget cut.

However, NFU Scotland pointed out they still had concerns that there might be a top limit on direct payments going to any single individual or company.

The report will now go to the full EU Parliament next month where only small modifications are likely.