MEP warns of ‘disastrous cuts’ in CAP budget

George Lyon, the MEP in charge of writing the European Parliament report on CAP reform, said Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos risked losing a significant proportion of his budget if he failed to show more fight in Europe.

Mr Lyon said the Commissioner had been positive about defending the budget in private talks but stressed he had not been outspoken enough in public.  

“We need the Commissioner to show some political mettle and make some clear public statements about the budget. If he doesn’t stand up now we may face disastrous cuts,” said Mr Lyon as he hosted a CAP hearing in Brussels last week.

Agriculture currently receives just under £50 billion from EU coffers which is equivalent to 43 per cent of the entire EU budget. That proportion is set to drop to 39 per cent by 2013.

But with public finances across Europe in a dire state, EU Commissioners could decide to make even more stringent cuts in the budget as they sit down to discuss the EU’s financial priorities for 2013-2019.

Mr Lyon sypathised with the scale of the task but said it was impetrative Mr Ciolos could defend cuts in the agricultural budget to sustain agriculture in Europe.

“We need to win the argument for continued direct support payments. We need a budget to deliver on food security, to make sure farms are competitive and innovative and to deal with new challenges such as climate change and biodiversity,” he said.  

One solution to the budget crisis, mooted in certain Francophile corridors, would be to encourage the co-financing of major agricultural projects.

That way member states would be permitted to part-fund projects from their national budgets to take pressure off the central EU budget.

But Mr Lyon said the move would set a dangerous precedent.

“Co-financing would be like re-nationalising the CAP. France would likely co-finance but we would not, leaving our farmers at a competitive disadvantage,” he said.

The European Commission is due to publish initial proposals on the 2013-2019 budget and on the shape of agricultural policy after 2013 later this year.  

Andrea Mott caught up with George Lyon MEP in Brussels and asked about his CAP reform priorities:

Have your say

Please do not complete the following form field for security reasons.

Name

E-mail

Comment

Post as

Anonymously

Display name