The Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted an opinion that stressed the need for sustainable European agriculture and for the policy's implementation to be tailored as closely as possible to realities on the ground. The opinion also calls for a fairer and more ambitious CAP.

The opinion on the European Commission's proposals presented in October 2011 for the reform of the CAP after 2013, adopted at plenary session by the Committee of the Regions stressed the strategic importance of the future common agricultural policy (CAP). It sets several key aspects of the future CAP such as the need to maintain an ambitious budget capable of dealing with issues such as food security, sustainability, the competitiveness of all forms of farming and balanced development of rural areas; or the need for public regulation of agricultural markets, among others.

On the other hand, the CoR calls for previous decisions on the removal of milk and sugar quotas to be reassessed, as well as planting rights in the wine sector; the gradual convergence of direct support at European level, in order to ensure greater fairness in the way in which support is distributed, taking account of the economic situation of farms; and reduction of the degressivity threshold to €100,000, with a cap of €200,000.

In addition, the opinion also calls for the CAP to be rolled out as closely as possible to the regional level, through a bigger role for local and regional authorities in implementing the CAP within the framework of multilevel governance – European, national, regional – in order to take account of the diversity of European regions; involving local and regional authorities in establishing partnership contracts between the EU and Member States; the possibility of introducing greening at the regional level so that it can be tailored to local agricultural, environmental and socio-economic realities on the ground, within the framework of territorial contracts drawn up in consultation with farmers; and the implementation of a European rural development strategy, taking account of the diversity of all rural areas.