Members of the European Parliament are resisting the European Commission's plan to cut the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget and end its place as a standalone, ring-fenced fund, The Scottish Farmer reports.

The Commission's proposal for the 2028-2034 EU budget would allocate €300 billion to agriculture, compared with €386.6 billion under the current CAP. Farm organisations across Europe put that at a cut of more than 20 percent, or around 22 to 24 percent in real terms once inflation is counted.

The size of the budget is only part of the dispute. Brussels also wants CAP funding folded into wider National and Regional Partnership Plans, placing agriculture in a single national spending framework alongside other policy priorities.

According to reports from Strasbourg, negotiators recently suspended discussions after a majority of MEPs opposed scrapping the CAP's standalone budget structure, arguing that ring-fenced farm funding remains essential for food production and rural communities.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen has acknowledged that the €500 billion some farm organisations are demanding is unlikely. Speaking at Ireland's National Ploughing Championships, he said he would be the "luckiest man in the farming sector" if that figure were reached and suggested that a budget closer to €400 billion would already be a significant victory. He has defended the €300 billion as a minimum guarantee, saying more money could reach agriculture through wider EU funds and that direct income support, coupled support and investment measures would stay at the heart of the future CAP.

Farm leaders remain unconvinced. Ireland's agriculture minister Martin Heydon has called the proposal "devastating" for agriculture, and farm groups warn that less CAP money would weaken farm incomes at a time of rising geopolitical tension and growing demands on European food security. The coming negotiations will decide both the level of future support payments and whether agriculture keeps its own line at the top of EU spending priorities.

The report is by The Scottish Farmer's John Sleigh.

Photo: JLogan / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Source: The Scottish Farmer