Copa and Cogeca welcome EU Commission President Juncker’s call to boost EU budget

Copa and Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “It is good news that EU Budget Commissioner Oettinger and President Juncker support the idea of having fresh money to fund the new challenges facing the EU and to offset the budget shortfall caused by Brexit. Recognising the positive impact and added value of EU Cohesion Policy and the CAP must be matched with adequate financing".

"We believe that the CAP is very good value for money since it not only provides quality food supplies but keeps rural areas alive by boosting growth and jobs and maintaining the environment", Pesonen said. "This was also recognized in a recent study by the World Bank which showed the positive impact of the CAP in tackling poverty and creation better jobs for farmers across the EU", he added.
"It is important to defend the benefits of the Single Market and to maintain common rules across the EU under the future CAP with common spending. It is clear that the CAP is a better and more efficient way of spending money than a sum of national expenditure would be", Pesonen said. "We consequently oppose any co-funding of farmers direct payments in the first pillar of the CAP", he concluded.