The EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development expressed his support for an increase in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget.
European Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowskiʼs (Janusz Voiciechowski) stated at the first meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) in 2023 that he would propose an increase in the current CAP budget during the mid-term review of the Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027).
Members of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development discussed the impact of inflation on the current CAP budget in Brussels on 9 January.
Commissioner Wojciechowski has said that there is a need for a larger CAP budget, and at the end of 2023 the Commission will publish its first report assessing all CAP strategies.
According to him, it is crucial that CAP support provides sufficient incentives for producers to comply with growing and costly commitments.
Members of the AGRI Committee stressed at the meeting that the current policy is based on inflation of 2%. However, data from the European Central Bank show that today’s CAP will be reduced by EUR 85 billion. This means that it will fall to the level of the CAP in 2007.
In the opinion of some Members, the current CAP is built on political priorities that have not really helped producers, one of which is climate change.
Other members have called for a significant reduction in the tax burden on agriculture, for energy tax incentives for farmers and for a reduction in the taxation of agricultural products, all of which would allow costs to be balanced.
Difficult to catch up with inflation
Mr Wojciechowski has acknowledged that the CAP budget finds it difficult to catch up with inflation” and there is currently a major discrepancy between them.
“We cannot ask farmers to give us more for less, so I think it will be very difficult for us to carry out farming tasks in Europe by 2027,” he said.
“The value of the European Union’s agricultural production has increased from EUR 440 billion to EUR 536 billion per year. This means, mainly due to inflation, which means that our annual CAP budget represents only 10% of the value of the EU’s annual agricultural production.
This amount will not have such an impact on farmers’ incomes as in previous years. This is a problem that we should be worried about,” Mr Wojciechowski warned.
According to him, some European farmers are thinking of no longer developing organic farming and returning to the traditional one.
“It is worrying that the decrease in the percentage of CAP payments in total farming income will lead to specific problems. I am afraid that we are approaching the point where many farmers will be considering whether or not to change their activities substantially.
We demand a lot from farmers, we ask them to work hard for the environment, but someday they will start to think about whether it is worthwhile and meaningful to single out part of the production area and cover the costs of receiving CAP payments,” the commissioner added.