EUROPEAN BUDGET IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE - AN UPDATE ON CAP REFORM
AND MORE
CAP reform is entering a busy period, although it may
still be some time off before any real farm level detail is
known.
Readers of this bulletin will be aware these reforms of the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have been running in parallel with
the setting of the entire EU budget for 2014-2020 and before
reforms could gather any pace in earnest, a budget deal needed to
be agreed.
EU budget agreed
In early February, EU leaders agreed on a budget for the years
2014-2020, officially known as the multi-annual financial framework
(MFF), paving the way for reforms of the CAP to gather pace. In
headline terms future spending will be around 3% lower than in the
current 2007-2013 seven year period. The table below makes a
comparison between the current budget, what the European Commission
was originally looking for in the MFF, and what the result is. All
figures are spending commitments at
