Federal Agriculture Minister welcomes the outcome of EU summit: direct payments to be more closely linked to environmental performance.
Federal Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner has welcomed the deal struck by the Heads of State and Government on the future EU budget. The compromise reached on Friday on the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) earmarks a budget of €960 billion for the 2014-2020 period. Despite the general need for austerity, unilateral cut-backs to the agricultural budget were avoided. In total, around €373.5 billion were allocated under Heading 2 with Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This means that the EU budget will provide Germany with annual funding of around €5 billion in direct payments and a further €1.2 billion for rural development until 2020.
"This is a good day for the agricultural sector and for consumers in Germany. The agreement on the new financial framework gives German farmers a secure basis for planning and a stable foundation for the future. With its consistent support of agriculture, the European Union is helping to protect the independent production of high-quality and safe foodstuffs in Europe", explained Federal Minister Aigner in Berlin on Friday. Huge credit for reaching an agreement must go to Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, she added. Apart from agreeing the financial framework, Aigner welcomed the fact that the Heads of State and Government had also decided on the cornerstones for reforming the CAP. "Public funding for public services – it is important that all the EU member states have pledged commitment to this key principle. It was also decided that direct payments should in future be more closely linked to environmental performance without the need to withdraw farmland from agricultural production. This is a major success from the German perspective", said Aigner.
Earlier, the EU Commission had backed down from its previous demand for the flat-rate setting aside of farmland. Most of the EU member states weighed in behind the proposal put forward by a group including Federal Minister Aigner and her 16 colleagues from the Länder (German federal states) to allow environment-friendly agricultural activity to be conducted in ecological priority areas. "For the Federal Government and the Länder, a third key point is the safeguarding of intact and prosperous rural areas. Here too, the outcome is more than satisfactory", Aigner emphasised. Within the scope of Pillar 2, environment-related measures are to receive higher EU co-financing rates. These provisions will considerably strengthen the CAP’s contribution towards protecting the environment.
Given the agreement on the MFF, Federal Agriculture Minister Aigner explained that it was now up to the agriculture ministers of the EU member states to push ahead with their work and bring the reform of the CAP to an expeditious conclusion. But she also pointed out that transitional arrangements would be necessary in certain areas. The EU Commission has already announced a number of proposals on this matter.
