60th anniversary of the Common Agricultural Policy

Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski addressed a ceremony held by the European Parliament in June to honour the 60th anniversary of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Commissioner Wojciechowski noted how today it is hard to imagine what European agriculture would be like without the CAP and its achievements provide the rationale for the continued development of the policy for the next generation of EU citizens.

He encouraged his audience to remember that agriculture is not an industry, land is not a factory, and animals are not machines. This was followed by his confirmation that the CAP has been reformed to help agriculture be more friendly towards the environment, climate, and animal welfare. In his speech he underlined the importance of the stability of farmers’ incomes along with improving living conditions in rural areas and closing the gap between rural and urban conditions.