On Wednesday, the plenary backed the committee’s position on the post-2027 CAP by 393 votes to 145, with 123 abstentions. The report aimed to influence the Commission’s budget proposal, which – to the committee’s regret – was unveiled in mid-July and amounted to a shake-up of farm subsidies.
The text calls for an “increased”, “separate” and “indexed to inflation” CAP budget, and rejects the Commission’s proposal to merge farm funds with other programmes.
“As it stands now, the Common Agricultural Policy risks being sidelined in the long-term EU budget,” said Spanish MEP Carmen Crespo Díaz of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the lead negotiator on the file. She also called for a “truly common” policy that protects direct payments. “That means no cuts, no nationalisation of the CAP, and no attempts to merge its funding with other EU programmes.”
Meeting in Copenhagen this week, farm ministers voiced similar demands, while EU farm chief Christophe Hansen said that more clarity on national-level funding for farmers is expected next week.
Wednesday’s vote marked the agri-food sector’s second victory in Parliament this year, after MEPs adopted a similar budget resolution in May.
The new report was opposed by the Greens/EFA group and most of the far-right ESN, while nearly all MEPs in the Patriots group abstained.
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