Luxembourg Agriculture Minister Calls for Ambitious CAP with 2-Year Transition Period

Luxembourg's Minister of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development, Romain Schneider, called for an ambitious common agricultural policy (CAP) during today's video conference of the EU's Agriculture and Fisheries Council.

During this last Council under Croatian Presidency, EU agriculture ministers discussed the recent European Commission announcement on sustainable fishing as well as on the progress made in the reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

With regard to the post-2020 CAP reform package, Luxembourg Minister Romain Schneider expressed support for the main principles of the new CAP model which is based more on performance. In the eyes of Minister Schneider, this system could however be further simplified and rationalised by limiting monitoring indicators mainly to the environmental and climate performance of the CAP.

In view of these ambitious objectives, Luxembourg's Agriculture Minister also recalled that the budget for the new CAP must imperatively meet the challenges to be met.

Besides the budget, the principle of subsidiarity was another essential point for Minister Romain Schneider: “With regard to green architecture, it is important to leave the choice to the Member States so that they can choose the most suitable tools to achieve the common objectives. The principle of 'one size fits all' cannot be applied to national and territorial specificities".

Regarding the timetable for the implementation of the reform, while taking into account the delay taken at the level of European authorities, Luxembourg's Agriculture Minister called for a two-year transition period.

At the national level, Minister Romain Schneider has just tabled a bill in order to be able to adapt the agrarian law in this sense and avoid a legal vacuum: "It is essential to guarantee continuity and predictability in the management of agricultural holdings".