Battle to protect CAP gathers pace in Europe

The influential EU think-tank Farm Europe has written to the president of the European Council António Costa to press the case for a ring-fenced CAP budget that is index-linked for inflation.

Farm Europe’s call comes ahead of a crucial European Council meeting in Brussels this week where the EU’s budget for 2028 to 2034 will be discussed.

There have been suggestions in Brussels that CAP and cohesion supports could face cuts of between 10% and 20% to fund increased defence spending by the EU on the back of developments in the Ukraine.

“We urgently call for a dedicated and adequate EU budget for a genuinely common CAP, adjusted for inflation, with strong leverage to promote investments, territorial balance and effective risk and crisis management,” said Farm Europe president Yves Madre.

Steady decline

“If we do not adjust the value of the CAP to account for inflation by 2034, we risk losing 54% of its value (equivalent to €250bn) over a mere 14 years (from 2020 to 2034),” Madre said.

“This situation is compounded by a steady decline in farmers’ income, which has dropped by 12% per hectare over the last two decades,” he added.

Madre claimed that this level of contraction in farm spending was putting at risk the EU’s “strategic autonomy”.

Farm Europe’s leader warned that failing to adequately fund CAP risked “renationalising EU policies, weakening the common approach and the internal market”.

'Rebuild the attractiveness'

EU policy should focus on “rebuilding the economic attractiveness” of the farm sector, by ensuring strong agricultural production across Europe and not only in the most productive areas, the Farm Europe leader claimed.

Such an approach would foster “genuine agricultural sovereignty”, he added.

“This will enable the EU to meet both its food and non-food demands, contributing to the global growth in demand and enhancing our farm resilience in an increasingly uncertain world,” Madre said.