Comments on: Parliament’s health check recriminations begin

By: Jack Thurston

Jack Thurston — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:14:25 +0000

Jane: I like your optimism but think that the more likely outcome is just what this BBC report predicts:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7742338.stm

By: jane kelsey

jane kelsey — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:34:25 +0000

Jack, Per (and I hope you are elected next year!) LUFPIG has tried to provide precisely that cross party pro reform grouping in the EP over the years debating with a large group of interested parties on CAP reform, consumers, environmentalists, free traders, budgeteers, budgetary control experts (ie court of auditors) but it is tough to break through the EP’s traditional approach on CAP. The agri committee is dominated by vested interests who vote to appease their constituents. The Budgeteers or others who seek to sit in really powerful committees do not waste their time trying to influence the Agri vote – Terry Wynn used to call himself ‘Daniel in the Lion’s den’ whenever he spoke there. When Commissioner Fisher Boel first presented her proposals for the reform of the sugar regime to the Agri Committee, Terry was the only MEP in the entire crowded committee room who applauded!
So I would make two points at this stage: unless and until we get co-decision for agricultural policy we will not get the powerful, budgetarily responsible MEPs on the Agri Committee; and unless and until the small farmers get more of a voice in the farm lobbies, the CAP will continue to change at a snail’s pace.

By: Per Altenberg

Per Altenberg — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:32:57 +0000

Well, ok. You’re right. I got a little carried away. So far the track record is disappointing in terms of mobilizing the public interest for a pro-reform agenda. But I don’t think it’ll necessarily always be true.

In Sweden, there is no support for a farm policy that is largely devoted to subsidizing the food processing industry. Your (farmsubsidy.org) web site is very valuable in providing transparency in that regard. When I point out to people in Sweden that the largest recipients of EU farm support in our country are food processing industries, they are shocked. While Sweden is of course a special case in many ways, I don’t think the basic reaction is any different in most other EU MS. To build a sound, EU-friendly reform coalition in the EP together with other MEPs during the next five years is something I would very much be looking forward to. We’ll know in June if I get the chance.

By: Jack Thurston

Jack Thurston — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:56:41 +0000

Per: I agree with your idea for organising across party lines. I have come across socialists and conservatives who are in favour of reform and are unhappy at their own party positions. So what explains why they remain in the minority? Just look at the case of Neil Parish MEP – he voted not only against the report of the committee he chairs but against the position of his own political group.

However I doubt that th CAP will figure at all in the 2009 elections, except from the perspective of candidates who seek to retain and reinforce current policies. It seems to me that the only people who really care enough about the CAP for it to become a voting/mobilisation issue are those that do well from it and have a strong interest in preserving it. For most of the European population, the CAP is obscure, irrelevant and uninteresting. Where were the pro-reform protesters facing down the farmers on the streets of Brussels this week?

Unless farm policy can be transformed into something that makes an everyday impact on ordinary people, the special interest lobbies will always win. This kind of transformation has happened at certain moment: in Germany with BSE, in the UK with foot and mouth, in the Netherlands with water pollution from livestock farms. It might be starting to happen in France over pollution and maybe in the Meditrreanean regions over water use. But there is still a long way to go before ordinary people realise that the CAP is mostly working against their interests and decide to do something about it.

By: Per Altenberg - Ett Liberalare Europa » Konservativa och socialister i EP vill bevara CAP

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:50:37 +0000

[...] I veckan som gick kom socialister och konservativa överens om en position som, om den blir verklighet, i praktiken skulle blockera reformer av EUs jordbrukspolitik. Liberaler och Gröna kritiserar dealen hårt. Läs om detta och mina kommentarer till överenskommelsen på Jack Thurstons utmärkta CAP-blogg. [...]

By: Per Altenberg

Per Altenberg — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:39:19 +0000

I agree with Mr. Busk. This week’s deal between the socialist group and the conservative EPP is designed to block any reform of European agricultural policies. It serves to conserve past policies, particularly in the dairy sector. As Mr. Busk suggests, it is “manifestly conservative”.

The deal indicates that it is high time to build a coalition of reform-minded candidates across party lines in the European Parliamanent. At present, however, Europeans who are concerned with the direction of farm policies in the European parliament, should vote either ALDE or possibly Green in the 2009 election. With this week’s deal socialists and conservatives have shown that their interest lies in conserving current policies. They are supported by Europe’s farm lobby but hardly by the European electorate as a whole. I believe they will pay a price for it in next year’s election.

Per Altenberg
candidate for European parliament (Folkpartiet liberalerna), Sweden

By: A distinct lack of transparency | Nosemonkey’s EUtopia

A distinct lack of transparency | Nosemonkey’s EUtopia — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 10:14:07 +0000

[...] same (invaluable) blog has all kinds of details on the fall-out from the deal – a deal in which, once again, France appears to have acted the petulant child and, from pure [...]