Slovenians Believe in Common Agriculture Policy

Brussels, 02 March

EU citizens support the Union's common agricultural policy, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey, as 66 percent back the recent reforms. Slovenians share the EU view, as 71 percent support the shift away from production-related payments to direct subsidies for farmers and rural development.

When the reform was in the making, the support was much lower, the survey notes. In Slovenia, for example, approval was up 14 percentage points compared to 2002. Support for the agriculture policy measures dropped in Portugal and Hungary but is still above 50 percent.
People are convinced that the main objective of farm subsidies is to provide a stable source of income for the farmers, a view shared by 36 percent of EU citizens and 40 percent of Slovenians.
Other priorities according to the respondents include providing healthy produce (30% in the EU, 32% in Slovenia), and protecting the environment (25% in the EU, 23% in Slovenia).
Yet the citizens are less convinced about the success of these measures. Only 37% believe that the EU is successful in achieving the first priority while 43% disagree. In Slovenia, the figures are 51 and 35 percent, respectively.
The belief that the common agricultural policy ensures healthy food is much more deep-rooted: 57% agree and only 26% disagree. In Slovenia, as much as 57% agree that this objective is being fulfiled and only 26% disagree.
Other objectives that were assessed more negatively as positively include the protection of small farms (30% positive, 40% negative), promotion of regional development (37% each) and improvement of life in the countryside (40% each).
The agriculture policy got good grades for adjusting to the wishes of consumers (43:34), protecting European products (45:30), promoting diverse production (45:29) and promoting biological farming (47:31).

Slovenians Believe in Common Agriculture Policy

More articles from this issue:

Archive