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It is not for the European Commission but for Member States to decide if they want to increase the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget, according to Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan.
He made the comments during an address to the European farm organisation Copa-Cogeca in Linz, Austria on Thursday 11 October.
He outlined how the UK was one of the main financial contributors to CAP and their loss would inevitably have an impact on the overall CAP budget.
Hogan added that he’d visited all the Member States and was fighting to maintain the CAP budget, but that people had to be aware that CAP was not high on the Commission’s future budget list, compared with issues such as defence and migration.
Crunch time
“We are now entering crunch time in relation to the EU budget and the future CAP proposal,” Hogan told the meeting.
“Inside the EU, one of the biggest net contributors to the EU budget is leaving the EU and taking its money with it.
“Outside the EU, we have a very difficult situation of increasing migration numbers and increasing security threats on our borders.”
Cuts of up to 5% have been put forward by the Commission, but Hogan said in light of the current political climate that these were 'fair'.
“Set against these challenges, the Commission's proposal for relatively modest cuts to the CAP can and should be viewed as fair.
“But the most important point to bear in mind is that the final decision does not lie with the Commission.
“The Member States, working in co-decision with the European Parliament, have full freedom to increase their overall budget contributions with a view to keeping the CAP at its current level.”
SHARING OPTIONS: