Press release no. 230 from 28.10.11Aigner: "Make German farming fit for the future"

"Many proposals made by EU Commissioner Ciolos are consistent both with the aim of German agricultural policy to better integrate environmental objectives and with our wish to have a sustainable, resource-efficient agricultural sector," said Aigner in Suhl (Thuringia) on Friday. However, she went on to say that some of the proposals had to be brought into line with the important demands that are being made of the agricultural sector, such as food security and the supply of renewable energy resources.

The Federal Minister continued by stating that one of the greatest challenges would be, through the reform of EU agricultural policy, to make the agricultural sector fit for the future, and to resolutely continue to develop the sector "without disruptions to individual Member States or to parts of the agricultural sector". She said that Germany had acted decisively in modernising the agricultural sector in recent years and had set the right course for the future. "In future there will no longer be any historical payment entitlements, or any influence exerted on farmers with regard to what they would like to produce. Instead, farmers will receive uniform regional payments for the management of their arable land and grassland." Germany will have completed this change regarding the direct payments by 2013," said Aigner. Many other EU Member States have yet to implement the process.

Germany takes a critical view of the Commission’s plans to cap single farm payments based on wage and salary costs. "This proposal would be a backwards step in agricultural policy. This would mean that we would return to having a support system that was linked to production factors. This would be in direct opposition to the steps taken so far to continue the development of the CAP towards a market-orientated, innovative, sustainable and competitive agricultural sector," criticised Aigner.

In view of the forthcoming "long and hard negotiations between the 27 EU Member States on the future direction of agricultural policy," Aigner underlined how important it was for Germany to present a united front and to speak with one voice. "I continue to advocate that cooperation between the federal government and the federal states should be as close as possible," said Aigner. The minister went on to say that the basic positions held by the federal government and the federal states were identical. "Our farmers require planning security; we are in complete agreement on this point. We want to ensure that Germany’s strong agricultural sector will continue to be able to produce high-quality foods. And we want to avoid disruption and unnecessary red tape for the holdings." Aigner underlined once again that no rapid decisions would be reached in Brussels, as the Commission’s proposals would probably not be able to be underpinned by specific financial figures until the end of 2012. "We will not be able to decide on the overall reform package until we know how much money will actually be available from the EU budget for agricultural policy."