Statement of Commissioner Cioloş on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 after the European Council
EU leaders have reiterated their confidence in a modernised Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and recognized the important contribution of farming and rural areas to the EU economy.
If confirmed by the European Parliament, this agreement paves the way to the final phase of the CAP reform negotiations.
For our ambition of moving to a fairer and greener CAP, the challenge begins now – we have to move from proposals to decisions.
The Commission proposals have enabled us to justify a significant budget, providing better value for money. The forthcoming CAP reform must now live up to expectations in providing a clearer partnership between farmers and EU citizens. That is the challenge for the negotiations to come. Four main points will be of a particular importance:
- a better, fairer targeting of direct payments;
- a credible greening which delivers genuine environmental benefits,
- a strong support to jobs, in particular for the young generation;
- and solid actions to strengthen the rural areas and farmers organisations.
Nevertheless, the CAP has been part of the overall effort to reduce public spending. I regret in particular the cuts in the rural development budget which will mean less investment and, thus, less growth. We will have to take this element into account by defining even better targeted and more efficient rural development strategies. In general, I regret the huge pressure faced by all lines of the EU budget especially research and "Connecting Europe".
