Wednesday is gearing up to be a significant day in setting the scene for the future of farm payments as the European Commission is expected to unveil its budget plans for 2028 to 2034.
Discussions around the upcoming proposals for the next EU long-term budget have been dominated by speculation that the European Commission could scrap the dedicated budget currently assigned to CAP by merging farmers’ funds into a larger budget.
This ‘single budget’ would cater for a range of EU policies outside of agriculture, with the reasoning cited by the Commission being that funds would have more flexibility to move from one programme to another as funding priorities shift.
The speculation came as the EU’s budget is coming under pressure from new funding initiatives around defence, while the EU must make up to €30bn in COVID borrowing repayments from 2028 onwards.
Recent talk from Commission officials has downplayed the likelihood of the single fund proposal making it off the drawing board, but Brussels insists that, for the budget as a whole, “the status quo is not an option” and the EU “must maximise the impact of every euro it spends”.
The proposed direction of travel should become clearer from Wednesday if the Commission sets out its plans on schedule.
Opposition
The notion of scrapping the dedicated budget for CAP has been met with fierce opposition from member states, MEPs and farming organisations.
European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen – a Luxembourg man – called in May for the CAP’s ring-fenced funding to remain into the next EU budget.
Commissioner Hansen had said that the next EU budget “will determine largely the shape of our farm policy and we need to make sure that Europe does not lose any more farmers or see any more land abandoned”.
“My position is clear; we need a dedicated budget for agriculture,” he said.
Early June saw Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon join 19 of his fellow EU farm ministers in signing a letter to the budget commissioner calling for a “separate, strong and ring-fenced two pillar” source of CAP funds into the future.
Minister Heydon had previously set out his stall for the next EU budget at a major IFA meeting in Naas, where he committed to work with likeminded member states to ensure CAP’s funding remains ring-fenced beyond 2027.
Hundreds of farmers heard from IFA president Francie Gorman at the Naas meeting that merging farming’s slice of the EU budget with other funding streams would amount to “putting a knife right through the heart of the CAP”.
Government priority
More recently, Minister of State for EU Affairs Thomas Byrne outlined to the European Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin that retaining a CAP with ring-fenced fund and its current two pillar structure was among Government’s top priorities for the next EU budget.
The European Parliament’s agriculture committee has also strongly backed keeping the two-pillared CAP with a dedicated budget as it laid out its initial position for post-2027 farm schemes last week.
Stay tuned to the farmersjournal.ie and check out this Thursday’s edition of the Irish Farmers Journal for more.
Read more
Hansen wants CAP funds ring-fenced in EU budget battle
How the EU’s €800bn in COVID funds could hit farm payments
Ireland demands ring-fenced CAP budget
IFA piles pressure on Minister to fight for 'threatened' CAP budget
Wednesday is gearing up to be a significant day in setting the scene for the future of farm payments as the European Commission is expected to unveil its budget plans for 2028 to 2034.
Discussions around the upcoming proposals for the next EU long-term budget have been dominated by speculation that the European Commission could scrap the dedicated budget currently assigned to CAP by merging farmers’ funds into a larger budget.
This ‘single budget’ would cater for a range of EU policies outside of agriculture, with the reasoning cited by the Commission being that funds would have more flexibility to move from one programme to another as funding priorities shift.
The speculation came as the EU’s budget is coming under pressure from new funding initiatives around defence, while the EU must make up to €30bn in COVID borrowing repayments from 2028 onwards.
Recent talk from Commission officials has downplayed the likelihood of the single fund proposal making it off the drawing board, but Brussels insists that, for the budget as a whole, “the status quo is not an option” and the EU “must maximise the impact of every euro it spends”.
The proposed direction of travel should become clearer from Wednesday if the Commission sets out its plans on schedule.
Opposition
The notion of scrapping the dedicated budget for CAP has been met with fierce opposition from member states, MEPs and farming organisations.
European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen – a Luxembourg man – called in May for the CAP’s ring-fenced funding to remain into the next EU budget.
Commissioner Hansen had said that the next EU budget “will determine largely the shape of our farm policy and we need to make sure that Europe does not lose any more farmers or see any more land abandoned”.
“My position is clear; we need a dedicated budget for agriculture,” he said.
Early June saw Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon join 19 of his fellow EU farm ministers in signing a letter to the budget commissioner calling for a “separate, strong and ring-fenced two pillar” source of CAP funds into the future.
Minister Heydon had previously set out his stall for the next EU budget at a major IFA meeting in Naas, where he committed to work with likeminded member states to ensure CAP’s funding remains ring-fenced beyond 2027.
Hundreds of farmers heard from IFA president Francie Gorman at the Naas meeting that merging farming’s slice of the EU budget with other funding streams would amount to “putting a knife right through the heart of the CAP”.
Government priority
More recently, Minister of State for EU Affairs Thomas Byrne outlined to the European Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin that retaining a CAP with ring-fenced fund and its current two pillar structure was among Government’s top priorities for the next EU budget.
The European Parliament’s agriculture committee has also strongly backed keeping the two-pillared CAP with a dedicated budget as it laid out its initial position for post-2027 farm schemes last week.
Stay tuned to the farmersjournal.ie and check out this Thursday’s edition of the Irish Farmers Journal for more.
Read more
Hansen wants CAP funds ring-fenced in EU budget battle
How the EU’s €800bn in COVID funds could hit farm payments
Ireland demands ring-fenced CAP budget
IFA piles pressure on Minister to fight for 'threatened' CAP budget
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