Common Agriculture Policy reform could create equal conditions for farmers

Yesterday, the European Commission proposed a fundamental reform of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP). For Poland this would mean that large farms would obtain identical support from the European Union that their western counterparts receive, seven and not nine years after Poland becomes a EU member. The European Commission suggests direct subsidies, which currently cost euro 30 billion annually, be limited from 2004 by 3% each year so that in 2011 they would equal 80% of their current level. At the same time, in accordance with a scenario presented in Brussels in April, Polish farmers would receive subsidies equaling 80% of the current ones as the cuts proposed by the Commission yesterday would not include new EU members. Agriculture Minister Jaroslaw Kalinowski indicated that the main aim of the Polish government is not to maximize the farmers' subsidies, but rather to ensure that the largest Polish farms would be able to compete on equal terms with EU countries. However, the CAP reform does not include farms which receive up to euro 5,000 annually. Smaller farms would have to wait nine years to receive equal conditions. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B2) A.Z.