MFF deal: It’s a “no match” between ambitions and budget

However, while the deal provides certainty for the continuity of EU programmes and recovery capacity to tackle the COVID-19 effects, it also shows limited ambition on the agricultural front. Such limited ambition risks to undermine young farmers’ capacity to invest into their future and the future of their sector, although essential to the fulfilment of EU objectives.
CEJA welcomes the efforts shown by EU Heads of States in reaching a deal after four days of negotiations. EU leaders’ agreement shows both their acknowledgement of the difficult situation the EU is facing as well as their commitment to provide certainty to EU citizens knowing that another postponement in MFF negotiations would have been highly detrimental to the continuity of EU programmes. CEJA also values the set-up of an EU Recovery Plan, which constitutes an unprecedented instrument with the potential to truly tackle the repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis.

However, despite an acknowledgement of the importance of agriculture over the last months, EU support has not been up to the challenges the sector is facing. The lack of ambition on backing EU farmers is visible through the cuts into the CAP in comparison to the 2014-2020 programming period and the recovery capacity in the EAFRD which was downgraded to €7,5 billion (against €15 billion in the Commission’s proposal). Additionally, limited support to agriculture has also been shown by the severe decrease in the financial allocation to the Horizon Europe recovery budget and Just Transition Fund, two instruments which are key to the realisation of the Green Deal objectives.

For all these reasons, we do not believe agriculture is provided with the appropriate budgetary capacity to ensure its economic and social viability while, at the same time, fulfilling the environmental and climate objectives of the EU. CEJA President Jannes Maes considers that “EU leaders in all institutions have to reflect on the discrepancies in their ambitions” and that “political courage isn’t just about giving big speeches or designing idealistic strategies; it should focus on outlining and funding a pathway of investment, innovation and acknowledgement to reach its ambitions”. He adds that “as young farmers we don’t want to give up on our ambition to build a more resilient agriculture sector, we now expect to see everything put to work in order to maximise the ability of rural areas and the agricultural sector to access additional budget streams”.

Reflecting on the ability EU leaders have recently shown in finding a new common response to the current crisis, young farmers across Europe believe in the necessity to develop a stronger EU approach in the future not only to tackle the effects of COVID-19, but also the wide range of challenges our community and the common market are facing such as geopolitical and economic instability, climate change and inclusion of next generations.