MEPs from all political groups have expressed anger and frustration at what appears to be a 25% to 30% slashing of agriculture’s budget from 2028 onwards, despite the European Commission claiming the opposite - that farm funds have been strengthened.
Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen faced fierce criticism from the European Parliament’s agriculture committee over his claims that Brussels has not proposed cutting the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget for 2028-2034.
The Commission has taken the line that the €300bn it proposes to be ringfenced for farmers within a larger ‘single fund’, which is planned to subsume the CAP, represents just the minimum funding available for what he termed "farm income supports".
However, what the agriculture commissioner now refers to as €300bn "farm income supports" also includes non-income-focused schemes currently included in pillar two, such as agri-environmental schemes and investment aid.
This leaves an €85bn hole in dedicated funding for agriculture between the current CAP and the newly proposed CAP for 2028 to 2034.
Commissioner Hansen claims that there will be other funding streams available for farmers to draw on, but these pledges of additional funds remain vague and could be dependent on decisions taken in each member state.
Firing line
European People’s Party (EPP) co-ordinator for agriculture Herbert Dorfmann MEP slammed the Commission’s approach to unveiling the EU budget and farmers’ slice of it as having been “so lacking in respect”.
Dorfmann – a member of the same group as Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Hansen – summarised the budget presentation as amounting to “maths that don’t add up”.
“I haven’t necessarily understood anything, but you are doubling the MFF [overall EU budget]. We are almost at €2tn, but we are getting a 25% cut to the CAP. Don’t try and sell that to us as a success story,” he said on Wednesday.
“You are talking about €300bn – that’s what we used to get for pillar one – everything else in another pot that is not yet clear to us.”
Ming wants Commission sacked
The left group of MEPs is led by Independent Midlands Northwest MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who began his remarks by suggesting the CAP be renamed the UAP – the Uncommon Agricultural Policy – for the proposed moves to diverge supports according to spending wishes of individual member states.
Midlands-Northwest MEP Luke Ming Flanagan.
Flanagan slammed the “reduction in [CAP] money while the EU budget has increased” and suggested that even if the CAP’s allocation stayed stable, 35 years’ worth of inflation since 1991 has cut the spending power of agricultural funding by 60%.
“It’s good to see passion here on this,” he said, referencing the criticism from other political groups’ MEPs sitting on the committee, but warned that he had seen similar passion run out of steam on issues such as Mercosur.
Flanagan also called for MEPs not in favour of the Commission’s CAP budget plans to vote the current Commission out of office.
“If you are not happy with the Commission - it is a democratic place here – I’ll support getting rid of them. Either that or stop complaining about something you supported.”
Social Democrats co-ordinator Dario Nardella MEP reiterated a question asked by numerous MEPs at Wednesday’s hearing: “From an objective point of view – how is this a success story? Where is the increase?”
Kindergarten funds for farmers
Von der Leyen herself came under pressure for more detail to explain claims that CAP payments have been safeguarded, despite just €300bn being ringfenced within the single fund for farmers.
She insists that “there's potentially way more funding accessible” to farmers under the budget shake up by giving the example using rural development funds “to build a kindergarten”.
Read more
€300bn ringfenced for farm 'income supports' in official EU budget plans
CAP entitlement changes and new reference period proposed
40,000 older farmers face farm payments wipeout
EU seeks to demolish dedicated CAP budget
MEPs from all political groups have expressed anger and frustration at what appears to be a 25% to 30% slashing of agriculture’s budget from 2028 onwards, despite the European Commission claiming the opposite - that farm funds have been strengthened.
Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen faced fierce criticism from the European Parliament’s agriculture committee over his claims that Brussels has not proposed cutting the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget for 2028-2034.
The Commission has taken the line that the €300bn it proposes to be ringfenced for farmers within a larger ‘single fund’, which is planned to subsume the CAP, represents just the minimum funding available for what he termed "farm income supports".
However, what the agriculture commissioner now refers to as €300bn "farm income supports" also includes non-income-focused schemes currently included in pillar two, such as agri-environmental schemes and investment aid.
This leaves an €85bn hole in dedicated funding for agriculture between the current CAP and the newly proposed CAP for 2028 to 2034.
Commissioner Hansen claims that there will be other funding streams available for farmers to draw on, but these pledges of additional funds remain vague and could be dependent on decisions taken in each member state.
Firing line
European People’s Party (EPP) co-ordinator for agriculture Herbert Dorfmann MEP slammed the Commission’s approach to unveiling the EU budget and farmers’ slice of it as having been “so lacking in respect”.
Dorfmann – a member of the same group as Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Hansen – summarised the budget presentation as amounting to “maths that don’t add up”.
“I haven’t necessarily understood anything, but you are doubling the MFF [overall EU budget]. We are almost at €2tn, but we are getting a 25% cut to the CAP. Don’t try and sell that to us as a success story,” he said on Wednesday.
“You are talking about €300bn – that’s what we used to get for pillar one – everything else in another pot that is not yet clear to us.”
Ming wants Commission sacked
The left group of MEPs is led by Independent Midlands Northwest MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, who began his remarks by suggesting the CAP be renamed the UAP – the Uncommon Agricultural Policy – for the proposed moves to diverge supports according to spending wishes of individual member states.
Midlands-Northwest MEP Luke Ming Flanagan.
Flanagan slammed the “reduction in [CAP] money while the EU budget has increased” and suggested that even if the CAP’s allocation stayed stable, 35 years’ worth of inflation since 1991 has cut the spending power of agricultural funding by 60%.
“It’s good to see passion here on this,” he said, referencing the criticism from other political groups’ MEPs sitting on the committee, but warned that he had seen similar passion run out of steam on issues such as Mercosur.
Flanagan also called for MEPs not in favour of the Commission’s CAP budget plans to vote the current Commission out of office.
“If you are not happy with the Commission - it is a democratic place here – I’ll support getting rid of them. Either that or stop complaining about something you supported.”
Social Democrats co-ordinator Dario Nardella MEP reiterated a question asked by numerous MEPs at Wednesday’s hearing: “From an objective point of view – how is this a success story? Where is the increase?”
Kindergarten funds for farmers
Von der Leyen herself came under pressure for more detail to explain claims that CAP payments have been safeguarded, despite just €300bn being ringfenced within the single fund for farmers.
She insists that “there's potentially way more funding accessible” to farmers under the budget shake up by giving the example using rural development funds “to build a kindergarten”.
Read more
€300bn ringfenced for farm 'income supports' in official EU budget plans
CAP entitlement changes and new reference period proposed
40,000 older farmers face farm payments wipeout
EU seeks to demolish dedicated CAP budget
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: