Crunch European Commission EU budget talks central to the future of farm payments went down to the wire in Brussels on Wednesday, forcing multiple delays to the presentation of the proposed budget for 2028-2034 to MEPs.

These delays were ongoing as the Irish Farmers Journal was going to print, as the 27 Commissioners had yet to thrash out the final details of plans expected to gut the funds avail to support farm incomes.

Speculation and leaked documents suggest that EU funding for agriculture could plummet by as much as 20-30%, despite the overall budget proposed anticipated to grow substantially.

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The Commission’s proposals will set the scene for what is expected to be the largest shake-up in both the EU budget and farm payments in decades – with tens of thousands of Irish farm incomes firmly in the firing line.

Leaked plans show that the Commission wants the CAP’s two pillars merged, while funding for regional development and CAP are subsumed into a new ‘single fund’.

EU funds, including those for agriculture, are to be drawn down through a single ‘national and regional partnership plan’ from 2028 onwards, if the proposals come to pass.

The move to scrap the ringfenced CAP budget flies in the face of the European Parliament agriculture committee’s position, as well as the stance of at least 20 of the 27 EU agriculture ministers.

Divergence

This divergence in views will set the Commission on a collision course with both MEPs and member states over the coming years as it will attempt to iron out CAP and budget reform that will manage to pass.

Brussels’ viewpoint on merging CAP’s funding with other EU funding streams is that it will allow “more efficient and flexible allocation of funding across different policy areas”.

The Commission sees the approach as “allowing member states to address new policy priorities and reallocate resources to respond to unforeseen challenges and crises”.