CAP reform timetable in doubt

Although it seems as if the reform of the European Union has already been around for a long time, members of NFU Scotland were reminded that they were only at “stage one of a process that has a total of 27 discernable steps”.

And if that news was deflating, Maeve Whyte, the UK farming unions’ top representative in Brussels, told yesterday’s union council meeting in Perth that there was “little hope” the process could be completed in time for the targeted January 2014 deadline.

Whyte said there were a number of reasons behind the likely slippage. National elections in both Germany and France in the next two years could set discussions back with politicians from these countries unwilling to get CAP discussions mixed up with their national agenda.

There was also the need to get agreement with the 736 MEPs from 27 countries. This is the first time the EU Parliament has had co-decision powers and this would complicate matters, she said.

A number of MEPs were already indicating their preferred shape of the next CAP would depend on the size of the EU budget and this was another big unknown with several member states wanting to move the budget downward from the current flat lining proposal.

ANDREW ARBUCKLE