MFF : Listening and discussing is not enough

Farm Europe takes note of the European Commission’s statement on the EU budget (MFF), emphasising its openness to dialogue and to listen. Unfortunately, since the strategic dialogue on agriculture, European farmers have become accustomed to this mode of communication from the European Commission, which, under the leadership of its President, Ursula von der Leyen, has neither heard nor taken into account the messages sent to it by the agricultural community. 

Consequently, Farm Europe asks the question: will this Parliament accept as a basis for negotiation the worst proposal ever presented by the European Commission, unravelling 60 years of Common Agricultural Policy? Going down this path would sow discord in the internal market and should not be accepted by the co-legislators, in particular the European Parliament. MEPs would be stripped of their essential role in guiding the EU’s agricultural economic policy, the policy being replaced by a programme serving as a top-up of national budgets.
Despite the strategic dialogue, President von der Leyen proposed to marginalise the specific agricultural institutions from the negotiating table. Despite many consultation processes, none of the requests of the European Parliament have been taken into account. In fact, the proposal of a single fund is a smokescreen for a simple cost-cutting exercise, undermining also the co-legislation process set by the Lisbon Treaty in favour of an administrative oversight of EU funds. 

Our full assessment of the Commission’s proposal is available following this link.