Mr. Tassos Haniotis:

The Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, still begins with the letter "C". That is to say, it still a common policy that must engage member states. The last two points raised the important question of how a common policy can be designed without over-emphasising details that do not allow for regional and national characteristics. It is easy to recognise this but difficult to put it into practice. Mr Bascou and I were heavily involved in the analysis of background information to prepare the proposal and a person engaging in this kind of analysis will see that serious efforts were made to avoid being prescriptive. However, negotiations in the process of co-decision making saw that many details that were not intended by us ended up in the delegated Act. This has made things more difficult than initially intended for member states and the European Commission. Some member states had particular interests so in the negotiation process we tried to incorporate well-intentioned concerns but this made things more complex for member states and the European Commission. We faced this reality with previous reforms and always improved the situation. On this occasion it was more complicated because both member states and the European Parliament were involved. The point raised by Deputy Penrose is valid and we strive not to be prescriptive.

Points were raised relating to structural changes and the age of farmers and these are issues throughout European agriculture. The only factor that has helped European agriculture to improve productivity is the fact that fewer farmers are using the same amount of land as previously. This is an unfortunate reality as we might have expected increased productivity from other areas, such as capital and land. Only a fall in labour has brought about these improvements and this raises the question of what to do with people who are leaving employment in agriculture. How many of these people will stay in rural areas and what alternative job opportunities exist? This cannot be addressed only through rural development measures but requires a wide array of structural and other funds that should aim at improving the rural economy and helping agriculture to adjust to change. This is why there are now stronger links between the uses of various community funds, including structural, employment and agricultural funds. It helps us reach common targets in a co-ordinated and consistent way.