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Civil society (and animals) gather in Strasbourg ahead of EU Parliament’s final CAP vote
France -
12/03/2013
Calling for a greener and fairer CAP, several hundred farmers and consumers in colourful costumes from 12 countries came together in Strasbourg today for a series of actions outside the European Parliament as MEPs held their final debate on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) before the plenary vote on March 13th.
Today’s action ‘Farms instead of Factories’ kicked off with an open-air cooking event and a live DJ, and ended with a human chain in front of the Parliament. Leaders from the European movements for the environment, good food and good farming gave speeches. Many MEPs came to meet those outside and share a bowl of soup. The event was coordinated by ARC2020 as part of their Good Food Good Farming campaign, and supported by 27 additional organisations.
Among their key concerns are the suggestions of the European Parliament’s Agricultural Committee to water down the EU Commission reform proposals of improving all farmers’ environmental performance through mandatory greening measures; the impact of Europe’s farming policy on global hunger, biodiversity and climate change; and an unfair concept of subsidies that aims to drive small farmers out of business.
Tomorrow, for the first time, with the same power as EU Agricultural Ministers, the 754 elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will vote on the future direction of Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Most of the more than 50 billion euros of taxpayers’ money spent on the CAP ends up in the pockets of the agricultural industry and big landowners, rather than being used to support farmers and their communities who produce healthy food, protect our environment and keep the countryside alive.
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