BirdLife International One of the key decisions BirdLife expects the French Presidency to take is to radically change the CAP into an instrument for sustainable rural development. Zoom In

President Sarkozy's test: sustainability revolution or business as usual?

07-07-2008

French President Nicholas Sarkozy has promised to bring Europe closer to the interests of citizens during his French Presidency of the EU during the second half of 2008. To fulfil this promise the French EU Presidency must show leadership not only in tackling climate change but also in reforming the CAP.

BirdLife International welcomes the news that France has chosen these two issues among its “top four” priorities for the Presidency, and has launched its own catalogue of EU policy demands for the coming six months. “The French Presidency has highlighted the right issues, but the real test will be in leading the EU towards truly sustainable policy choices that aim at public benefits, instead of short term thinking”, stated Konstantin Kreiser, EU Policy Manager of the BirdLife International European Division.

"The French Presidency has highlighted the right issues, but the real test will be in leading the EU towards truly sustainable policy choices that aim at public benefits, instead of short term thinking" —Konstantin Kreiser, EU Policy Manager of the BirdLife International European Division

“President Sarkozy can pass his test only through courageous decisions. To save Europe’s credibility as an environmental and socially responsible front-runner, it is essential to radically change the CAP into an instrument for sustainable rural development, to take true leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to make sufficient funding available for ecosystems and biodiversity in the EU and globally.”

Key decisions BirdLife expects the French Presidency to take are:

1. Approval of a solid and ambitious Renewable Energy Directive aiming to achieve the 20% target and effectively contributing to reducing emissions while ensuring that renewable energy production is developed without unnecessarily harming biodiversity and ecosystems.
2. Urgently put a moratorium on the 10% biofuel target while introducing meaningful safeguards, ensuring that bioenergy leads to significant emission reductions, instead of making climate change worse, causing harm to biodiversity and fuelling the food crisis.
3. Radically improve the current proposals for the “CAP-Health Check” by retargeting funding towards sustainable farming practices and nature-friendly farming systems while improving the mechanisms of cross-compliance which ensures farmers who benefit from public payments respect basic environmental legislation and good practice.
4. Take leadership in the discussions on the ongoing wider EU Budget Review, to achieve a budget that uses taxpayers’ money for public goods, instead of particular lobby interests.

More transparency for EU subsidies are essential here - there is a lot of room for improvement. France comes to the EU steering wheel less than two years before the 2010 deadline for achieving the EU objective of halting biodiversity loss. It is widely agreed that this target will be missed unless urgent action is taken. Agriculture and energy policies provide key opportunities for France to make a real difference, alongside further progress in implementing the EU Nature Directives and the Natura 2000 network, on land and at sea.

BirdLife’s detailed requests from the French EU Presidency can be found in BirdLife’s ‘Greening Europe’ brochure which can be downloaded by clicking here