In preparation for the European Commission’s forthcoming proposals on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the period 2028-2034, the European agricultural organisations and cooperatives (Copa-Cogeca) and 27 other EU sectoral organisations sent a letter to the President, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday 14 February, criticising the idea of reallocating EU spending within a Single Fund.
The organisations in question are concerned about an “upheaval” in the structure and governance of the next MFF and the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Although the principle of simplification is supported, according to the letter, the organisations state that the changes envisaged, if introduced, will bring neither simplicity nor less red tape for the following reasons: the idea of increased simplification and flexibility involving the reallocation of EU spending within a Single Fund and with National Plans for all funds is “contrary to the targeting of support necessary in some key policy areas, particularly the CAP”. This change “would lead to disastrous consequences for the EU agricultural sector, to more complexity and uncertainty for our 9 million farmers and would put at risk the stability and performance of the EU agri-food chain, increasing differences among Member States and resulting in the fragmentation of the Single Market”.
In their view, “an increased and dedicated CAP budget remains fundamental for ensuring competitiveness, food security, balanced sustainability and for guaranteeing a decent income for farmers”.
For its part, the European think-tank Farm Europe has unveiled its main expectations (https://aeur.eu/f/fi5 ) for the negotiation of the EU’s next budget, stressing “the need to anchor the negotiations in clear facts and figures”.
In particular, Farm Europe is calling for the next CAP budget to be indexed to inflation and is opposed to the idea of a Single Fund, which would run “a clear risk of renationalisation”.
Finally, there is the question of enlargement and Ukraine. It will undoubtedly come back into the debate at the time of the budget negotiations.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/fi0 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)