It’s ‘crunch time’ on CAP budget funding — Hogan

THE EU is entering ‘crunch time’ in relation to the CAP budget, Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan has said.

Speaking at the Copa-Cogeca European Congress of Farmers, the Commissioner warned that protecting the CAP budget from cuts would “not be an easy task”.

He said that he has taken note of Copa-Cogeca’s position paper published in September. “You are firmly opposed to any cuts in the CAP budget, and you call for existing spending levels to be maintained in real terms. This is a position I strongly support myself, indeed it is a position I outlined on every possible occasion during the discussions on the next EU budget.”

However, he warned that with the EU facing unprecedented internal and external pressures, the big spending areas such as agriculture were in the firing line for cuts.

“Inside the EU, one of the biggest net contributors to the EU budget is leaving the EU and taking its money with it. Outside the EU, we have a very difficult situation of increasing migration numbers and increasing security threats on our borders.”

Commissioner Hogan said that set against these challenges, the Commission’s proposal for relatively modest cuts to the CAP can and should be viewed as fair.

“But the most important point to bear in mind is that the final decision does not lie with the Commission. The Member States, working in co-decision with the European Parliament, have full freedom to increase their overall budget contributions with a view to keeping the CAP at its current level.”

He also said that he has spoken to ministers in every Member State and there is a willingness in a majority of countries to take this approach. “Next year important institutional changes will take place at EU level — with European Parliament elections and a new Commission taking office — and time is tight to get the budget and CAP proposals over the line. Your position paper makes it clear that reaching an agreement on the MFF [EU budget] and CAP before the European elections is crucially important for you, and I fully agree.” He said that an agreement is possibly early next year, which he said would provide clarity and predictability for beneficiaries and national administrations.