Can the CAP deliver a sustainable European food and farming system?

NGOs ask for a CAP Fitness Check

EUROPARC joined the group of over 100 environmental, health, and social NGOs that are calling on European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to initiate an in-depth review of food production and consumption in Europe by conducting a Fitness Check of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Here you can read the letter sent to Mr. Junker, that was sent on the 22nd March 2016.

The organisations that signed the letter believe that this system is largely broken and that the main policy currently addressing it – the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) – requires an urgent assessment, as it seems not equipped to address the fundamental challenges that Europe is facing in this sector.
Some of the most important indicators of the state of the food and farming system in Europe include an unfair system for farmers, a constant crisis on agricultural markets, a continuous decline in the state of natural resources, failures in delivering on animal welfare, negative public health outcomes, and severe negative impacts beyond Europe’s borders. The CAP has not only failed to prevent these problems but in many cases has exacerbated them.

In order to decide whether or not it makes sense to maintain the CAP in its current form, and whether the allocation of substantial budgetary resources towards it is justified, we believe it is essential to answer all five

Fitness Check questions :

• Is the CAP effective in achieving its objectives?
• Is the CAP efficient in achieving its objectives?
• Is the CAP coherent with other agreed EU political objectives and policies?
• Is the CAP still a relevant policy?
• What EU added-value does the CAP provide to EU citizens?

It is time to have an unbiased debate about the reform of the CAP, the EU budget, and other policies that have an effect on our food unbiased debate about the reform of the CAP, the EU budget, and other policies that have an effect on our food and farming system.