Budget cuts to next CAP likely - European Commissioner

It is likely that there will be cuts in the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget, the European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Günther Oettinger told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday.

Oettinger was in Dublin on Tuesday for meetings with the Taoiseach and the PAC.

Saying that this was part of a series of visits to member states to hear views on his recently published CAP communication, he suggested that with the Brexit deficit, cuts in the next CAP budget were unavoidable.

Proposals

The commissioner is due to bring forward proposals by 2 May and while referring to the three options of a 30% cut, a 15% cut or best case a standstill in the budget, he indicated his thinking is that a reduction in the order of 5% to 10% would be likely.

He explained the financing options and the demands that would be on the next budget with increased defence spending robustly challenged by some members of the committee.

We should work in a more efficient and deeper manner than ever

The committee was reminded by the commissioner that it was member states, not Brussels, that decided the level of the EU budget and that expenditure at an EU level on issues such as defence was much more efficient than member states acting in isolation.

Brussels-beating was an unacceptable game and that it is "our EU and our project", he said.

“We should work in a more efficient and deeper manner than ever,” were the commissioner’s last words on Brussels-bashing by member states.

He assured the PAC members that Ireland having the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development was the best guarantee that the next CAP would be as favourable as it could be and that they were working closely together in drafting the multi-annual financial framework (MFF).

On Brexit, the commissioner said that “Ireland was at the centre of all our work” and that Barnier (the European Commission's chief Brexit negotiator) was “brilliant and to trust him.” He was blunt in his assessment of the UK as a weak negotiating partner and that there was no clear picture of EU priorities.

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