The European Parliament is looking to begin CAP negotiations with the same funding levels for agriculture in 2028 to 2034 as were allocated to the current CAP at a level adjusted for inflation.
MEPs are to push for a budget of up to €435bn in dedicated CAP funds post-2027 before talks truly get underway, as a majority reject the European Commission’s plans to ring fence just €300bn for agriculture in the next long-term EU budget.
Chief negotiator for the European Parliament in the CAP negotiations, German MEP Norbert Lins, stated last week that a “lot has happened” since Brussels first unveiled its planned 24% reduction in ringfenced farm funds last summer.
The planned 24% CAP cut to ringfenced CAP funds has been lowered with the rejigging of the original EU budget plans by a Commission looking to get MEPs back on side, Lins told the Irish Farmers Journal.
Single fund
These changes concern a 10% target proposed for spending non-CAP funds allocated under the new ‘single fund’ on rural areas and plans to unlock €45bn for spending from 2028 onwards that had been previously earmarked to remain in reserve for later in the budget cycle.
“We are still not happy, to be clear. We need a budget which is at least the same amount as the current budget and inflation included. This means that we need a budget between €420bn and €435bn,” Lins commented.
The German MEP is aiming to cut out any shortfall between the updated proposals’ funds planned for agriculture – around €390bn - and the €420-435bn that is to be starting point in negotiations by scrapping the flexibility that is on the table for countries to spend a quarter of their share of the new single fund on their own policy priorities. “There is no need for a 25% flexibility. It would mean that more than €200bn would have no planning security. Not for regional policy and neither for CAP policy. The parliament will reduce that flexibility,” Lins said.
SHARING OPTIONS