No. 34 The future of the Common Agricultural Policy 72 ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTIVE STUDIES CULTIVAR Response to CAP 2028-34: A guide for reflection and debate IDALINO LEAO President of CONFAGRI - Portuguese Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives and Credit 1. CAP objectives: pa st and future 1.1 Are the founding objectives of the CAP still relevant today? At EU and national level? There is no doubt that the objectives enshrined in the Treaty of Rome remain fully relevant throughout the Union. Everything is there: sustainability and income, competitiveness, consumer protection, social equity, food security. Are the objectivesof the CAP public goods?Do they require public intervention? To what extent is guaranteed access to adequate food in terms of quantity and nutritionalquality an essential public good? Food is the most basic and pressing of human needs. However, history is full of examples of people dying of starvation and societies suffering from malnutrition. It is therefore incumbent upon governments to establish public policies to prevent such situations. In other words, it is necessary to address any market failures that may occur in the regular and accessible supply of food to our societies. Hence, food security is unequivocally a public good. What is the best way to operationalise security of supply: domestic production with increased production potential, external agreements, definition of critical agriculturalgoods, guarantee of essentialproduction factors (water, energye,tc.)? Although we have the Single Market and, consequently, a lower risk in ensuring food security, we have an obligation to make the most of our internal productive resources. However, we know that there are sectors in which we have natural limitations in achieving reasonable levels of self-sufficiency. Therefore, in practice, we need to resort to a mix of policies such as those mentioned above, without losing sight of the sustainable increase in our production potential, which should be a priority. I believe that it is now clearer than ever that we must reduce our external dependence on production factors such as fuels, energy, fertilisers, and veterinary and plant protection products. Adjusting the CAP to make a greater contribution in this regard is essential. But it is not enough. The European Union (EU) cannot be prejudiced when addressing issues such as sanitary products, herbicides, pesticides or genetically modified organisms. As we have seen, these excessive restrictions have hampered the competitiveness of European agriculture.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTgxOTE4Nw==