‘Greening’ the CAP

1. ‘Greening’ the CAP Brian Fuller Sarah Hauser Daria Kuznetsova Luis Suarez-Isaza Joe Wales

2. AGENDA • Our Pitch • Proposed Changes to CAP • Two-Part strategy • Public Mobilization • Member State Negotiations in European Parliament and Council of Ministers • Recommendations

3. PROPOSITION

4. NEW DESIGN OF CAP

5. PUBLIC MOBILISATION The CAP has been historically difficult to change: 1) Limited counter lobbying • Collective action problems amongst taxpayers • Lack of common interests amongst lobby groups • No unifying political entrepreneur 2) Lack of awareness of the European public • 53% have never heard of the CAP • 24% accurately listed the CAP as one of the four largest items of EU Budget spending

6. STRATEGY FOR PUBLIC MOBILISATION • European Citizens’ Initiative • Oxfam as “spearhead organization” to act as agenda setter 3) Mobilization of other lobbying bodies such as: • Environment NGOs • Non-agricultural business groups • Urban trade unions • Other Development organisations

7. WHY WILL IT WORK?

8. ECI Details European Citizens’ Initiative • 1 million signatures from at least a third of member states (nine) • Once registered, the commission gives decisions on whether it is going to propose the legislation within four months • Organisers of an initiative have to prove they are not lobbyists • Safeguards built into the process • EU Commission hopes to have it up and running by December

9. STRATEGY FOR EUROPEAN NEGOTIATIONS

10. INCENTIVES • Crowded Budgetary Needs • Unsustainable Pillar I Expansion • New Member Nations Expect Parity • Accountability to mobilized domestic constituencies • Lobbies • Public Opinion • Dispel the “Democratic Deficit” • Growing Preference for Rural Development

11. GREEN ENERGY DEVELOPMENT • Pillar II funds can be used for alternative energy • Green energy investment • Creation of jobs in green business operations • Support for CAP reform from manufacturing lobby • Development of rural areas • EU target of generating 20% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. • Energy Security • Lower prices • Energy Independence from Russia

12. Building a QMV majority

13. Building a QMV majority

14. Building a QMV majority

15. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT • Similar motivations and reservations • Features of Parliament which are particularly conducive to CAP reform: • Populist leanings of MEPs • EP’s Absolute Majority requires 376 of 761 votes proportionally fewer than any minimum coalition satisfying the QMV-majority

16. Key Actors Denmark HenrikHøegh, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries • Most absolute anti-CAP stances • Presidency from Jan 2012 Germany IlseAigner, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection • Strong bargaining position • Shift Pillar I to II, vague on absolute funding • Benefit from Green Tech Investment United Kingdom Caroline Spelman, Secretary of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs • Rebate Renewal vs CAP restructuring


17. RECOMMENDATIONS • Monitor European Citizens Initiative developments • Begin public mobilisation strategy in advance of the ECI • Encourage the UK or another country to take a leading role in negotiating for the proposed reform • Incentivise and protect the core coalition actors

18. Questions?

19. References • Eurobarometer Report Europeans, Agriculture and the Common Agricultural Policy (2008), p4. • Eurobarometer70 Public Opinion in the European Union (2008), p68 • European Trade Union Confederation Position of the ETUC on the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference (2005), section 1, a-d. • BusinessEuropeGo For Growth: An Agenda for the European Union in 2010-2014 (2010), p14 & p16 • Taxpayer’s Alliance Research Note 46- The Great European Rip-Off (2009), p4. • Which? (Formerly UK Consumers Association) Hungry for Change? Which? Healthier Choice Progress Report (2009), p26. • Various examples, see particularly Oxfam The Time is Now: How world leaders should respond to the food price crisis (2008), p7-8. Also for the USA Oxfam Square pegs in Round holes: How the Farm Bill squanders chances for a pro-development trade deal (2008). • Eurobarometer 70 (2008) (p68) asked those surveyed to list their 4 priority areas for EU Budget spending. Aggregating across the EU Agriculture and Rural Development came ninth with only 14% of Europeans allocating one of their 4 preferences to it. This compares with Climate Change & Environmental Protection (5th with 23%) and Energy Issues (6th with 22%). • Jambor and Harvey 2010 CAP Reform Options: A Challenge for Analysis & Synthesis • Majority Calculator for Council Decisions, German Federal Ministry of Economics and TechnologyLandgrebe et al 2009 German Perspectives on the Current CAP Reform • Defra and HM Treasury, A Vision for the Common Agricultural Policy, December 2005 • Council for the Rural Area, Implementation and Vision of Common Agricultural Policy,Fact Sheet - Italy • Eurobarometer 70 – National Report Italy (2008) p5 • Eurobarometer 262 (2007) Special Energy Policy survey EU-25 • Birdlife International (2008) Debating the Future of the Common Agricultural Policy, Country Profiles •  Euractiv.comCall for EU budget reform to match green priorities