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The lack of ambition on backing EU farmers is visible through the cuts into the CAP in comparison to the 2014-2020 programming period, the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA) has said.
The farm lobbying group believes agriculture is not provided with the appropriate budgetary capacity to ensure its economic and social viability while, at the same time, fulfilling the environmental and climate objectives of the EU.
As young farmers we don’t want to give up on our ambition to build a more resilient agriculture sector
CEJA president Jannes Maes said: “EU leaders in all institutions have to reflect on the discrepancies in their ambitions.
“As young farmers we don’t want to give up on our ambition to build a more resilient agriculture sector, we now expect to see everything put to work in order to maximise the ability of rural areas and the agricultural sector to access additional budget streams.”
Undermined future
CEJA has welcomed the reaching of a deal on the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) and the Next Generation EU recovery instrument, but insist “such limited ambition risks to undermine young farmers’ capacity to invest into their future and the future of their sector”.
“Limited support to agriculture has also been shown by the severe decrease in the financial allocation to the Horizon Europe recovery budget and Just Transition Fund, two instruments which are key to the realisation of the green deal objectives.”
EU recovery plan
CEJA has said young farmers across Europe believe in the necessity to develop a stronger EU approach in the future not only to tackle the effects of COVID-19, but also the wide range of challenges our community and the common market are facing.
“We value the introduction of an EU Recovery Plan, which constitutes an unprecedented instrument with the potential to truly tackle the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis.”
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