Recommendations on CAP

General

The EU should acknowledge the serious adverse economic consequences which could result for Southern Africa agriculture from the liberalisation of trade in CAP distorted products.
The EU should recognise the centrality of agriculture to poverty alleviation and meeting basic needs in Southern Africa and should seek to formulate agricultural trade policies which do not undermine national and regional agricultural development.
The EU should support consultative processes which are giving rise to sector specific regional agricultural development strategies, in the context of the creation of a SADC wide free trade area.
The EU should seek to open up its market to Southern African agricultural exports in those areas which offer scope for the consolidation and diversification of agriculture and agri-processing industries, without posing any substantive economic threat to existing patterns of EU trade and production.
The EU should defer any moves towards free trade with SADC countries in CAP distorted agricultural products, until such time as the issue of CAP distortions has been comprehensively addressed.
Within any moves towards free trade with Southern Africa, the EU should firmly commit itself to the "special protocol" approach in those agricultural sectors of vital importance to national economic development.

The EU should situate the deployment of export refunds in the beef sector in the regional market context and make a firm commitment to preventing the disruption of the development of regional trade in beef products.
Specifically the EU should seek to establish consultative mechanisms with appropriate bodies in Southern Africa to ensure that EU beef cuts do not enter Southern African markets at prices and volumes likely to disrupt regional trade (particularly trade involving communal area farmers).
On the basis of these consultations, and in the light of the shared objective of promoting greater regional trade and a greater off-take from communally held herds, appropriate levels of export refund payments should be determined and appropriate trade arrangements be established.

Given the potential for growth which exists in the Southern African dairy sector the EU should seek to ensure that the deployment of CAP instruments in support of EU dairy producers and traders do not close off opportunities for the development of competitive regional production to serve regional markets.
The EU or EU member states governments should seek to extend assistance to the efforts of national dairy associations in Southern Africa in collectively developing a coherent regional strategy for the expansion of a competitive Southern African dairy industry.
The EU should establish a consultative mechanism with appropriate bodies in Southern Africa to ensure that the deployment of CAP instruments in the dairy sector do not close off opportunities for the further development of competitive dairy production throughout Southern Africa.
EU member states governments should encourage the EU not to seek the inclusion of dairy products in duty free access sought under free trade area arrangements with Southern African countries.
EU member states governments should encourage the development of special trading arrangements in the dairy sector (though "special protocols") which preserve the economic space for the regional development of dairy production.

The EU should recognise that the arable sector is a "basic needs" industry, which is of fundamental importance to the food security and economic well being of the people of Southern Africa.
The EU should allow Southern Africa the economic space to establish regional trading arrangements for basic grains and grain based products which reconcile competing national interests
Any trade arrangement with the EU should be consistent with an supportive of a SADC wide regional grain market arrangement.
The EU should establish consultative mechanisms with appropriate Southern African bodies (SADC FANR Unit in consultation with grain sector associations) to ensure that the deployment of all CAP instruments (including B1-30 for non-annex II products) do not distort Southern African grain markets and processed grain products industries.

Under the proposed EU-South Africa free trade area agreement,the EU should grant tariff quota access to South African canned fruit exports based on traditional levels of exports.
These tariff quotas should then be progressively relaxed until free trade in canned fruit and vegetable products is achieved.
The EU should review the current application of assistance to processing and marketing in the canned fruit sector with a view to eliminating those distortions which undermine South African exports to third country markets.
The EU should seek to establish consultative mechanisms designed to monitor developments in the canned fruit and vegetable sector, with a view to avoiding market distortions.

The EU needs to recognise that any process of CAP reform in the sugar sector will have profound implications for Southern African sugar producers.
The EU should seek to ensure that any internal price reductions are accompanied by a reduction in EU sugar exports to world markets, thereby leading to an improvement in world market prices.
The EU should refrain from seeking the inclusion of sugar based products in any free trade area agreement until such time as CAP distortions have been removed from the sugar sector.
In a context where local Southern African sugar prices are well above world market prices, the EU should review the deployment of export refunds under budget line B1-30 (for non-annex II products), so that the level of export refund granted on exports to Southern Africa corresponds only to the difference between the EU sugar price and the local Southern Africa sugar price and not the difference between the world market and EU sugar prices.
A consultative mechanism should be set up with appropriate bodies in Southern Africa to establish appropriate levels for export refund payments for the export of sugar based products to Southern Africa, in the light of the prevailing sugar price in Southern Africa.