85 A robu st bu dget, twopillars, market regul ationand redistribution of aid: towards a fairer CAP for all farmers VÍTOR RODRIGUES* Member of the Board of Directors of CNA - National Confederation of Farmers and of the Coordinating Committee of ECVC – European Coordination Via Campesina. Member of EBAF – European Board on Agriculture and Food, representing ECVC The GPP and Cultivar magazine have decided to highlight the debate on the future of the CAP – the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy – at a time when the budgetary and regulatory starting points for a discussion that will continue over the coming years are already known. 1. Context of the discussion on the future of the CAP Proposed Multiannual Financial Framework: A Threat Reflecting on the future of the CAP – the European Union's (EU) Common Agricultural Policy – only makes sense when considering its past, results, prospects for future and present context, taken from a point of view that looks in particular at the Portuguese reality. That being the case, it is impossible to ignore a proposal for a Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) whose starting point is a cut of around 30% in real terms in the CAP budget, which severely limits the debate on how, and with what objectives, a CAP that meets current needs should be implemented. With this limitation, the proposed exercise may be nothing more than idealistic. The profound imbalances inhte EU agri-food market areharmingfarmersand consumers It cannot be ignored either that the agricultural and trade policies pursued by the EU continue to fail to ensure a decent income for many farmers, especially small and medium-sized ones. On the contrary, the trend is towards maintaining or even lowering the nominal prices of many agricultural and food products, at the same time that the prices of * With the collaboration of Ângela Dias, João Filipe Batista, Lucinda Costa Pinto and Pedro Santos.
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