The EU Policy Regulates and Controls the Farming Practices

Across the world, agricultural land management has created a rich landscape diversity. Today’s countryside is a result of farming activities over the centuries. Agriculture is the main land user and the resulting high visibility leads to a widespread perception that "rural" matches with "farming". Around 775 million ha land of the European Union (50%) is farmed. This fact alone highlights the importance of farming for the EU's natural environment. Farming and nature exercise a profound influence over each other. In the older EU member states, less than 2 % of the active people is active in agriculture, while in the youngest ones more than 15% is involved. There is a wide range of farming practices on very large and small farms, with or without animals, very intensive or extensive, on flat areas or in hilly and mountain regions, very specialized or mixed farms…Therefore the links between the richness of the natural environment and farming practices are complex. While many valuable habitats in Europe are maintained by extensive farming, and a wide range of wild species rely on this for their survival, agricultural practices can also have an adverse impact on natural resources. Pollution of soil, water and air, fragmentation of habitats and loss of wildlife can be the result of inappropriate agricultural practices and land use. Environmental concerns play a vital role in the Common Agricultural Policy-CAP of the European Union, which deals both with the integration of environmental considerations into CAP rules and with the development of agricultural practices preserving the environment and safeguarding the countryside. At the end of 2008 the EU agriculture ministers reached a political agreement on the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy, published in Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003. This Health Check will modernize, simplify and streamline the CAP and remove restrictions on farmers, thus helping them to respond better to signals from the market and to face new challenges. Climate change, renewable energy, water management, biodiversity and dairy restructuring are crucial challenges for Europe's rural areas, agriculture and forestry. Since its foundation by 6 countries in 1957, the EU changed in many aspects and especially in regulating and controlling agricultural matters. This contribution will give an overview of the EU CAP by referring to the relevant Commission Regulations, Directives and Recommendations and to documents prepared by the authors on the occasion of the 9 international symposia of the UASVM Cluj-Napoca.