Many EU agriculture ministers expressed concern in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Tuesday 5 June at the proposed cut to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget for the period from 2021 to 2027. The 5% reduction proposed by the Commission is being challenged by several member states.
Meeting in Bulgaria on 4 and 5 June for their six-monthly informal Council, ministers consulted their calculators and began to give their reactions to the Commission’s legislative proposals on the CAP after 2020 (see EUROPE 12033, 12032).
“For the most part, the lack of consensus had to do with money”, acknowledged Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan in a press conference on Tuesday. He said that there were “differences of opinion” depending on whether countries were net contributors to the EU budget or net beneficiaries. The debate is only beginning and it is for the Council and governments to decide on the political priorities and how much money is to be allocated to these priorities, the commissioner pointed out.
At both Monday’s meeting of the special committee on agriculture (SCA) in Sofia and the exchange of views among ministers on generational renewal on Tuesday, it was especially the budget that elicited comment. Sweden alone came out in favour of deeper cuts in funding for direct payments. The Netherlands would be prepared to accept reductions but on condition that they are fairly shared.
France looking for allies. France said it was against any reduction in resources for either the first (direct aid) or the second (rural development) pillars. It is seeking allies to prevent any cuts. Having signed a joint statement with Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Finland and Greece on the need to maintain the level of the EU agricultural budget (see EUROPE 12032), French Agriculture Minister Stéphane Travert made contact with his Romanian, Czech and Belgian counterparts to try to build numbers for a coalition.
The Belgian and Portuguese ministers made clear that agriculture must not be seen as a pawn and be left to bear the cost of Brexit.
“We are somewhat sceptical about the budget because, to bring about more ambitious reform, more money is needed”, was how Tanja Strnisa of Slovenia summed things up. “We have to accept that agriculture is becoming a European budget pawn”, complained Belgian minister Denis Ducarme, estimating that Belgium would lose between €400 and €600 million. Irish minister Michael Creed said he was “very concerned. It’s unreasonable to ask farmers to continue to do more and more for less and less money”.
Convergence. The focus of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is convergence of aid. The Slovak minister, like those of the Baltic States and Portugal, would have liked the Commission to show greater ambition on aid convergence. On the opposite side, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands that we must not go further than where we are today on this issue.
Capping. Slovakia, along with Germany, Romania, the Czech Republic and Estonia, voiced opposition to the mandatory capping at €100,000 proposed by the Commission. They feel that capping and degressivity of aid should continue to be optional.
Simplification? Several ministers, including those of Germany and Slovenia, suggested that the proposals would lead to greater administrative complexity.
Rural development. The Commission has proposed a 15% reduction in funding for the second pillar of the CAP (rural development). According to a source, “many ministers” were critical of the scale of the cuts. In Portugal, for example, rural development aid represents around half of the national CAP envelope. Portuguese minister Luis Capoulas Santos is worried about the national contribution needed to make up for the losses (co-financing). “This will cost the domestic budget twice as much” as at present, he told journalists. Austria also criticised the cut in second pillar funding.
18 June date for next meeting. Ministers will get down to real discussions on the substance of the proposals at the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on 18 June. Several ministers are persuaded that it will be impossible to reach agreement on the new CAP between now and the European elections of May 2019. Commissioner Hogan stressed that the goal was for the Commission to complete the debate on the next financial framework, for 2021-2027, by March 2019, when the United Kingdom will leave the EU. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)