Brussels, 11/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - The share of agricultural expenditure in the European budget should continue to drop in future to pay for the new policies of the EU, said European Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski in an interview with AFP on Tuesday 10 May (our translation throughout).
“In order to find better funding for immigration, research and development, energy networks, energy security and climate change, we need to make changes to the proportions within the European budget”, he said, on the sidelines of a session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
In particular, “the downward trend in recent years of the share of the common agricultural policy (CAP) should continue”, said the budget commissioner. “Agriculture represented 80% of the EU budget in the 1970s and 60% in the 1980s; today it is 40%. This could be slightly lower in future, in order to find the money for our new needs”, he clarified.
“I am not in favour of revolution of any kind”, but “we are in a position to be able to make savings in this field without damaging agriculture”, he opined.
However, he declined to rule out that in real terms, the sums earmarked for the CAP could remain stable.
Lewandowski went on to speak in favour of keeping in place the other major pillar of the European budget, the cohesion policy (which contains aid to support the convergence of the least-developed member states and regions).
The European Commission is set to present its proposals on the forthcoming multi-annual financial framework (post 2014) by the end of June.
Dacian Cioloº, European Agriculture Commissioner, for his part, hopes to keep “at least” the current level of the agriculture budget of the EU in the forthcoming financial framework (2014-2020), which is between €55 and €60 billion (direct aid, market expenditure and rural development). Sources close to Cioloº indicate that if the total EU budget should rise (Ed: which seems highly unlikely), agricultural expenditure will continue to fall.
Like many other countries, France, the number one beneficiary of the CAP, is strongly opposed to any reduction in aid to farmers. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has already said that he is prepared for a “crisis” in Europe to defend the CAP. In the opposite corner, the United Kingdom has called for aid to farmers to be gradually scaled down. (L.C./transl.fl)