Building a new Framework for the Common Agricultural Policy: A Responsibility Towards the Overall Community

The intensity of world economic growth and population pressures have progressively depleted natural resources and increased the level of polluting emissions and greenhouse gases; this has called into question the development models of modern society. Against this background we contribute to the ongoing debate that will shape the future framework of European policy for agriculture and rural areas. European agriculture is held tight in the double bond of having to 'produce more food, and provide more services' to wider society. We need, therefore, to find answers to these pressing societal demands so that, as both consumers and taxpayers, society accepts the legitimacy of the financial support granted under the CAP, provided it is delivered in an effective and sustainable way. We identify key areas of a new framework for the future CAP: promoting the production of public goods by increasing the targeting of direct payments; promoting development of rural areas in their various components; ensuring an adequate food security and producer safety net policy; enabling the activation of defensive measures caused by shocks to production and prices; supporting access of farmers to modern tools of risk and resilience management; promoting improvements in organisational efficiency to complement objectives of greater sustainability of farming