EU Agriculture Ministers have signed a common declaration expressing their concerns about a proposed reduction in the CAP budget for 2015.

At yesterday's (Monday) EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting, member states discussed the financing of the European agricultural guarantee fund.

Following the meeting, the President of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council, Maurizio Martina will send a letter to the President of the ECOFIN Council expressing the position of the agriculture ministers as well as the declaration that was signed.

Martina said: "For a vast majority of member states, the Commission's proposal does not meet the needs of the agricultural sector, already under pressure due to the impact of the Russian ban."

The amending letter updates the draft budget proposed by the Commission for 2015 with regard to agricultural expenditure, reducing the overall commitments by €448.5m and redistributing payments of €397m. €344.3m of the €433m in the agricultural crisis reserve are used to finance emergency market measures in response to the Russian food import ban.

Speaking after the meeting, EU Agriculture Commissioner, Phil Hogan said he noted the concerns of the ministers and will discuss them with the college of commissioners later this week.