Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Future outlook for agriculture in areas with special handicaps (upland, island and outlying areas)
Date: 2007-12-12
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: agricultural area with environmental restrictions, hill farming, mountain region, regional farm policy, regional policy

16.5.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 120/47

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the ‘Future outlook for agriculture in
areas with special handicaps (upland, island and outlying areas)’

(2008/C 120/11)

On 27 September 2007, the European Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 29(a) of the
Implementing Provisions of the Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on the

Future outlook for agriculture in areas with specific natural handicaps (upland, island and outlying areas).

The Section for Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment, which was responsible for preparing
the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 27 November 2007. The rapporteur was
Mr Bros.

At its 440th plenary session, held on 12 and 13 December (meeting of 12 December), the European
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 127 votes to one, with six abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

On 13 September 2006, the European Economic and
1.1
Social Committee adopted an own-initiative opinion on the
Future outlook for agriculture in areas with specific natural handicaps
(upland, island and outlying areas) (1).

— landscapes which can be used for

leisure and tourism
for citizens of an urbanised continent and for

(essential
European competitiveness);

— significant biodiversity;

— unique water reserves;

1.1.1
In this opinion, the EESC devoted the whole of chapter
4 to the problems faced by upland areas, and among other
things emphasised the need for:

— high-quality products, especially foodstuffs.

— a specific EU policy for upland areas;

— a harmonised EU definition;

— priority for upland areas when allocating appropriations

under the second pillar;

— consolidation of compensation measures for upland farmers;

— integration of agricultural and regional policies to ensure

they have a greater impact on upland areas.

On 7 December 2006, during the policy dialogue
1.2
concluding the Committee of
the Regions' plenary session,
Commission president José Manuel Barroso spoke out in favour
of drawing up a Green Paper on the future of policies for
upland areas.

1.3
The EESC therefore feels it appropriate to draw up an
additional opinion, in order to express its views on the princi-
ples which could underlie such a Green Paper.

Upland areas provide

1.4
all European citizens with
numerous services as well as public and economic benefits, for
example:

— reduced natural risks, to the benefit of people living in both
upland areas and elsewhere, e.g. as a result of protecting
transport corridors;

(1) OJ C 318, 23.12.2006, p. 93.

Unless upland areas are appropriately managed by
the production of such goods and

1.5
people who live there,
services will be jeopardised.

1.6
Today, we have to face up to major new challenges, both
present and future, such as intensifying economic competition,
demographic change, climate change, etc. Although these chal-
lenges concern all regions, they have a much stronger impact
on mountainous areas and a specific approach is therefore
needed.

However, most existing policies which apply to upland
1.7
areas are sectoral and are often adopted outside these areas
without paying sufficient attention to their specific features. Poli-
cies on upland areas tend to be unimaginative, they often cover
other areas, and fail to take the specific features of upland areas
sufficiently into account. At
the same time, European and
national policies are increasingly focusing on the comparative
strengths of regions requiring promotion or development.

1.8
Despite their importance at European level, upland areas
are to some extent neglected by European policies, and there is
a serious failure to acknowledge their considerable potential in
terms of contributing to European growth and diversity, particu-
larly in view of their innovative approaches.

The EESC is therefore in favour of a much more consis-
1.9
tent and integrated policy approach. Upland areas require a
cross-sectoral and territorial approach to their sustainable devel-
opment.

C 120/48

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

16.5.2008

1.10
A Green Paper on the future of policies for upland
areas would help to rationalise and consolidate existing policies
and initiatives at European level in order to make them more
effective in the specific context of upland areas. This particularly
applies to agriculture in upland areas, as mentioned in this
opinion. In most European upland areas, farming is the founda-
tion on which other
socio-economic, agro-industrial and
tourism-related activities are built, and it determines the attrac-
tiveness of such regions. The Common Agricultural Policy there-
fore has a key role to play and must be included in the review
of European policies in upland areas envisaged by the Green
Paper.

1.11
The EESC therefore calls for the Green Paper on the
future of policies for upland areas to be added as soon as
possible to the European Commission's work programme in
order to define the issues of strategic importance for upland
areas in the Member States of the European Union, to clarify
the respective tasks of
the various levels of authority and
economic sectors and coordination between them, to consoli-
date specific statistical data used as a basis for policies in such
areas, to study ancillary and support measures to be put in
place in such areas in the light of the strategic objectives defined

by the European Union, and to promote the development of
European and national policies.

By making it easier

1.12
to tap into the comparative
strengths of upland areas, the Green Paper on the future of poli-
cies for upland areas will also tie in with the re-launched Lisbon
strategy and the Gothenburg strategy. It will therefore contribute
to the objectives of growth and employment, and will help the
European Union to become a more internationally competitive
knowledge-based economy in the years to come. Upland areas
have a major contribution to make to Europe as a whole, and it
is important to make the best possible use of their potential for
innovation and growth.

1.12.1
At the EESC's plenary session of 11 and 12 July
2007, Ms Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for regional policy,
referred to the EU's territorial agenda and announced that in
2008 a report on territorial cohesion would study the impact of
major future challenges on the regions and means of dealing
with them. The EESC urges that the specific features of upland,
island and outermost regions be taken sufficiently into account
in the current discussions on the EU's cohesion policy and in
the preparation of the Territorial Agenda.

Brussels, 12 December 2007.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS