The UK Government's "vision for the Common Agricultural Policy"

Download or read book The UK Government's "vision for the Common Agricultural Policy" written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2007-05-23 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In December 2005 the Government launched a "Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy", which was intended to stimulate debate and show how the Common Agricultural Policy should change in 10-15 years. This report examines the proposals and finds them a lost opportunity. The Government should have directed the debate towards scrapping the existing CAP and replacing it with a Rural Policy for the European Union. There should thus be a new Vision document, launched in a more subtle way so that allies for reform can be enlisted. The credibility of the document depends on the Government providing full and detailed evaluation of the impact of proposals on biodiversity, the environment, markets for agricultural goods and individual farm enterprises. This should be done by mid 2008. The long-term justification of the expenditure of taxpayers' money is the provision of public benefit. These public goods should be measurable and capable of evaluation.