Italy and France have been pushing the Commission to grant more concessions on the agricultural policy budget .

The European Commission is proposing a measure to increase available funding for agriculture under the EU’s next long-term budget plan, to persuade reluctant countries to support a trade deal with Mercosur.

Italy and France have been pushing the Commission to grant more concessions on the farming budget in negotiations to secure support for the long-negotiated trade agreement with Mercosur countries. EU ambassadors are expected to vote on the deal at a key meeting on Friday, paving the way for a potential signing in Paraguay on 12 January.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sent a letter to the Cyprus presidency and to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on Tuesday, proposing to reshuffle funds that were not immediately available under the initial 2028-34 budget proposal.

She suggests using two-thirds – about €45 billion – of the amount set aside until the mid-term review of the seven-year budget to be mobilised immediately to support farmers. Member states can request this when submitting their national and regional partnership plans.

The letter also reiterates existing proposals for farmers, including a €6.3 billion reserve to address market disturbances, as well as increased financial support for rural areas – which have lost their dedicated pillar under the new CAP – with at least 10% of the resources of each national and regional partnership plan.

“The combination of these policy and budgetary tools will provide the farmers and rural communities with an unprecedented level of support, in some respects even higher than in the current budget cycle,” reads von der Leyen’s letter.

EU farm ministers are meeting in an extraordinary meeting hosted by the Commission on Wednesday, which will touch upon reciprocity in trade agreements for farmers, as well as the next CAP budget.

According to the Italian farm minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, von der Leyen’s move is “good news”. “Not only has the 22% cut in resources dedicated to agriculture for the period 2028–2034 been cancelled, but the financial allocation has even been increased by €1 billion compared with the period 2021–2027,” he added.

“We are eating into the flexibility reserve even before starting the MFF,” Eulalia Rubio, senior research fellow at the Jacques Delors Institute and the CEPS think tank, told Euractiv. “Using EU funds to compensate losers of trade agreements makes a lot of sense, but if they want to do it they should create an additional instrument, such as they did after Brexit”.

Source - https://www.euractiv.com