Europe’s main farm organisations on Monday rejected the European Commission’s latest amendments to its proposed ‘single fund’ budget reform, dismissing them as cosmetic changes that fail to address deep concerns over cuts to farm subsidies.
The reform plan – part of the Commission’s long-term EU budget overhaul – would merge farm and regional subsidies into a single national investment framework negotiated directly between Brussels and member states. Farmers, regions, and many MEPs warn that the proposal risks reducing funding for agriculture and weakening the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
‘Smoke and mirrors’
“The new concepts presented by the European Commission over the weekend are purely ‘smoke and mirrors’,” EU farmers’ groups Copa and Cogeca said in a letter sent to MEPs on Monday. “The proposal appears to be an attempt to change things without changing anything.”
The amendments were discussed at a high-level meeting the same day between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Parliament President Roberta Metsola, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who is steering budget negotiations among EU countries.
One proposed change would transfer several articles from the single fund regulation back into the CAP regulation, giving more power to the Parliament’s agriculture committee and farm ministers. Another would reserve 10% of the total budget of national plans for rural investment projects, on top of the €300 billion already allocated to agriculture.
Disputed figures
Commission officials told Euractiv that the additional funding for rural areas would be almost €49 billion, plus €15 billion in loans – a total of about €64 billion, narrowing the €87 billion gap with the current budget cycle.
But agricultural think tank Farm Europe said the maths don’t add up. It argues that the new plans leave core CAP measures facing a 17.6% cut compared with today. Despite the changes, von der Leyen continues to shift the burden of CAP budget cuts onto regions and national governments, the group said.
Disunited Parliament calls off EU budget rebellion
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