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COMMON AGRICULTURAL POLICY

: : About the issue

The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which has affected the care and treatment of billions of farm animals for nearly 50 years, was reformed in 2003. The reformed CAP is designed to ensure that agriculture is sustainable and that it addresses citizens’ concerns on food safety, environmental protection and animal welfare.

: : What is the current situation?

Member States are responsible for developing and implementing their own rural development plans and should now be preparing their plans for the next seven years. However, a new 2005 Regulation means countries can choose whether to include animal welfare in their plans or not. Eurogroup is concerned that the limited funds available for rural development are not necessarily enough of an incentive for Member States to implement the new animal welfare measures.

: : What is Eurogroup calling for?

Eurogroup is calling for:

	the Common Agricultural Policy to stop subsidizing intensive livestock systems.
	a part of the rural development budget to be used to improve animal welfare
	Member States to include the new animal welfare measures in their rural development plans, allowing farmers to be subsidized for implementing higher animal welfare standards.
	an end to all refunds for the export of live animals to third countries.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

European Union

European Commission page on the Health check (Nov. 07)

Commission report on the application of cross-compliance (Mar. 07)

Council Regulation on support for rural development (Sep. 05)

DG Agriculture:
Rural Development web page

Eurogroup documents

Eurogroup views on the CAP Health Check (Sep. 07) en - nl - fr

Report: "Into the fold"
"Creating incentives for improved animal welfare under the Rural Development Regulation"
(Mar. 05)

Summary of the report:
(en)(de)(fr)(it)(sp)
(cs)(sk)(hu)(pl)