2024-01-31 08:29:15
Paris is putting pressure on Brussels to resolve the farmers’ conflict. Their minister, Marc Fesneau, will be at the European Commission this Wednesday afternoon to obtain rapid adjustments to the CAP. The Common Agricultural Policy, supposed to protect farmers, is increasingly criticized by its beneficiaries.
For sixty years, the CAP has been the alpha and omega of European agriculture. It is thanks to the prices guaranteed by the CAP that European agricultural production has surged since the 1960s. The priority is then to feed the population at a moderate price by supporting an activity considered to be the keystone of food sovereignty. In 2023, it is still the largest item of expenditure in the EU of 27. The CAP still provides more than half of the income received by European farmers. The French are the first beneficiaries. But they continue to get poorer. In thirty years, their income has declined by 40%.
The generosity of the CAP in decline
A decline which begins when the CAP reduces its protective net. From the 1990s, to limit the explosion of its spending, the EU put an end to guaranteed prices and the repurchase of surpluses. Gradually, the market decides the price and therefore the agricultural income. And this price tends to fall. The hassle to receive aid from Brussels, always essential, is increasing, as are the various costs borne by farmers. CAP subsidies compensate less and less for the shortfall. The return of inflation worsens their already precarious situation. The surge in fuel and fertilizers is increasing their costs. And the rise in interest rates reduces their debt capacity. It is in this increasingly difficult context that they must adapt to a new metamorphosis of the CAP. The CAP goes green from January 1, 2023. Brussels imposes environmental requirements. Without taking into account the ever-increasing economic pressures faced by farmers.
A risky bet on the economic model
The upscaling of their production was supposed to spontaneously lead to an increase in their income, but with inflation, this magical hypothesis will not come true. Consumers prioritize price as evidenced by the organic crisis. The greening of agriculture requires better financial and regulatory support to preserve the European farm economic model. The increase in the CAP budget is not news, it could be one of the issues of the European elections. For comparison, the United States or Japan spend much more than the 27 to support their farmers. The Swiss are the world champions with subsidies three times higher than those of the European Union.
Exchange agreements indictment
Farmers also denounce the free trade agreements signed in the name of the 27. President Macron is maneuvering to suspend the signing of an agreement with Mercosur penalizing French meat. The other subject of tension for the French as for the Poles or the Romanians is that of Ukrainian products authorized in Europe without customs duties. A largesse that could be revised downwards.
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