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European Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan has said that there will not be a dedicated risk management fund for market crises.
Speaking at a meeting of the informal farm council in Estonia this week, he highlighted that the current agricultural crisis reserve has never been mobilised. It is worth over €400m a year.
“Member states have shown great reluctance to use it and one has to wonder in what circumstances they would be prepared to use the crisis reserve,” he said.
The crisis reserve fund has been in place since the 2013 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and is replenished through a levy on all direct payments above €2,000 across the EU.
If not used by the end of the year, the reserve goes back to farmers. It has never been used so far.
Speaking about the reserve’s lack of use, Commissioner Hogan highlighted that the argument is there that “member states do not want to be reducing direct payments from the very people who are going through a crisis”.
He said that the reserve is not a risk management or crisis measure, but a tool to get extra financing for market support measures in case no other budget availabilities exist.
Ireland was one of the countries which asked for the reserve to be reviewed, which the Commissioner noted, and said that it has to be looked at in the context of the future CAP post-2020.
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