Sunday, November 01, 2009

Budget directorate wants to cut CAP

Leaked copies of a document from the European Commission's budget directorate reveal an aspiration to substantially cut agriculture's share of the EU budget from 2013 onwards.

The paper says that it is too early to see what the future reform of the CAP will look like, but argues that it should be driven by two objectives. 'Firstly, it should resolutely pursue the modernisation of the CAP, concentrating spending where it most adds value. Second, it must stimulate a further significant reduction in the overall share of the EU budget devoted to agriculture, freeing up spending for new priorities.'

The paper argues that direct aids should be reduced and linked more strongly to the delivery of public goods. A Pillar 3 should be established dealing purely with climate change.

The full communication is expect to be published in November.

2 comments:

Julien Frisch said...

The link and an analysis of the leaked document here.

I think that it is not clear enough on CAP, especially given its importance in the budget. It also not clear how the Commission thinks the member states will react - it is not the first time that a CAP reform is proposed...

Wyn Grant said...

Thanks for the link and your comment. It is, of course, one thing for the budget directorate to make a proposal. France will not take this well. But at least it stakes one position in the debate and the idea of a 3rd pillar on climate change is an interesting one.