§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will propose to the European Commission a system of deficiency payments for staple marketable crops and livestock produced in areas of climatic disadvantage. [21687]
§ Mr. RookerNo. I consider the CAP should be reformed so that EU farmers are more exposed to market signals, the overall cost of the policy is reduced and490W payments to farmers decoupled from production and targeted towards specific environmental and structural goals. A system of deficiency payments would not be consistent with these objectives.