CAP Health Check a ‘missed opportunity’, says CLA

The CLA said today that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Health Check has missed a chance to spell out the role of CAP as a prelude to the EU budget review.

CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "The Health Check has missed a great opportunity to explain the role of the CAP in a food-insecure and environmentally-insecure world. The CLA will try to do this.

"The commission decided the purpose of the Health Check was to simplify and streamline the CAP. But there is only a little evidence of simplification and rather too much leeway given for backdoor complications.

"The new article 68 greatly complicates pillar 1 and gives too much scope to re-coupling support. It is also a move to a less common policy. The progressive modulation is pure gesture: further complication with little real purpose or impact.

"We are concerned that further cross compliance, will be used to find environmental compensation for the removal of set aside, this the wrong approach."