Thomas Waitz MEP (Greens/EFA, Austrian) said on Tuesday 18 February in Brussels that the existence of an independent budget for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) “is not guaranteed” following difficult budget negotiations between EU countries.
Unofficial documents are circulating within the EU institutions about a possible merger between the CAP and cohesion policy budgets. He described the announcement as “dangerous”, because farmers need “concrete financial support”. According to Thomas Waitz, merging these two budget headings could affect small and medium-sized farms. The risk is that, without precise criteria, EU countries will favour large companies.
“It is not certain that this CAP budget will remain independent, and rural development in particular is very much in question,” said the MEP. It is these rural development programmes (the second pillar of the CAP) “that help us keep value chains close to farmers and create jobs in rural areas and resilient food systems that are not dependent on world trade”, he continued.
“It is by no means certain that we will see this money again,” he worried. The CAP budget will not be increased in the 2028-2034 MFF, he predicted, because the Member States “will not want to pay more for the EU budget”. Where will the money come from to finance the transition in agriculture? - he asked, highlighting the resistance of several countries to the creation of new own resources for the EU budget.
On the subject of the 'vision for agriculture' to be adopted by the European Commission on Wednesday 19 February (see EUROPE 13579/5), he felt that the proposals on direct payments were not ambitious enough. He advocated distributing ‘basic’ support not according to hectares, but according to the ‘work place’, “because that’s what counts”. Aid per hectare would be reserved solely for encouraging the provision of public goods (water, air, soil fertility, biodiversity, climate change). To see the draft communication, go to https://aeur.eu/f/fhh (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)