Farmers could receive inflation-linked pay rises under the next EU budget, European Commission President von der Leyen has suggested.
Von der Leyen is trying to build support for her €2 trillion budget which will run from 2028 to 2034.
“In the current budget, farmers’ income was eroded by soaring inflation”, she told the European Parliament this week.
“In our MFF proposal, instead, farmers’ income will adjust with inflation. Because European farmers bring top-quality food on our tables, and life to our countryside”, she said.
It is a shift in policy from her first term in office when her then-Agricultural Commissioner, Janusz Wojciechowski, told the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development:
“The absence of a correction for inflation has always been part of the policy design, as agreed by the European Parliament and the Council. This contributes towards a more market-oriented CAP [Common Agricultural Policy].”
The European Commission is lobbying hard for the next long term EU budget which has so far drawn heavy criticism from MEPs and EU governments.
Under the new proposals the Common Agricultural Policy would no long exist as its own budget line.
Instead, agricultural funding would come from what the European Commission is calling the National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPP). It would be a huge pot funding with €832 billion for many different things:
The NRPP will “bring together EU funds implemented by Member States and Regions under one coherent strategy, with economic, social and territorial cohesion, agricultural and fisheries policies and security at its core”, the European Commission says.
Support for farmers and fishers would be “ring-fenced”, receiving €302 billion in core funding.
“The Common Agricultural Policy stands on firm ground”, von der Leyen insisted this week.
“Not only are we setting a minimum envelope for farmers’ income support, but Member States and regions will also have to support rural areas. A new ‘rural target’ will secure financing for these territories.”
The legislative proposals do not mention inflation or a index-linked pay system for farmers.
Negotiations are expected to continue for many months. President von der Leyen admitted that she expected the discussions to be hard work.
“This is just the start of the process”, she told MEPs.
“The new budget is an opportunity to transform our [European] Union for the better and for good.”