For Article 39 read Article III-227
- July 2005
This Opinion was featured in the July 2005 issue of the the Anglia Farmer
The UK's decision not to hold a referendum on the proposed EU constitution is an opportunity lost, says David Walker.
It seems incredible that the French have held a referendum on a proposed European Union(EU) constitution without the Common Agricultural Policy(CAP) featuring prominently in the debate. But the majority of people seem to have voted "non" without reference to farming.
This is a pity because the constitutions is quite interesting on the matter of the CAP - specifically Article III-227, paragraph 1. It is on page 101 of what is a hefty 475 page document.
"The objectives of the common agricultural policy shall be:
(a) to increase agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress and by ensuring the rational development of agricultural production and the optimum utilisation of the factors of production, in particular labour;
(b) thus to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture;
(c) to stabilise markets;
(d) to assure the availability of supplies;
(e) to ensure that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices."
If all of this sounds familiar, it should. It is almost exactly the same as Article 39 of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, the equivalent of EU Magna Carta, and what the CAP was all about way back in 1972 when the UK signed up.
It is little wonder, but a pity, that Messr. Blair and Straw have decided to not hold a referendum in these parts of Europe.
There are some folks who would have appreciated the opportunity to ask Margaret Beckett who takes great pride in her role in securing reform of the CAP:
How the government’s biotechnology policy "increased agricultural technology by promoting technology" and how the two-metre hedgerow rule "ensures the rational development of agricultural production and the optimum utilisation of the factors of production."
Or how modulation "ensured a fair standard of living for the agricultural community... by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture."
Or how lowering intervention prices "stabilises markets."
Or how decoupling agricultural support "assures the availability of supplies."
Or how the government’s habit of gold plated regulations imposed in response to EU directives "ensures that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices."
The reality is, of course, that the CAP has been turned inside out as economic and political circumstance have changed.. And the objectives as listed are irrelevant. One wonders how much of the rest of this proposed constitution is stale wind.
Perhaps the French and the Dutch did the right thing in opposing the adoption of this constitution, even if it was for different reasons. And who did give this document the nod?
July 2005
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