Spat over subsidies breaks EU consensus on future of farming

EU ministers failed to reach unanimity in their conclusions on the future of agriculture at a meeting on Monday (24 June) due to a disagreement over the equalisation of the level of aid between member states.  

The Belgian Presidency of the EU, which has chaired EU Council meetings since 1 January, was hoping to get ministers to approve the conclusions before Hungary takes over the rotating presidency next Monday (1 July).  

“Unfortunately, during today’s discussions, but not before, it appeared that the Romanian delegation could not support the text,” Belgian Agriculture Minister David Clarinval told journalists after the Agriculture and Fisheries (AGRIFISH) Council.  

The document was meant to be a “message to the next Commission”, to guide the upcoming negotiations on the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), said Clarinval ahead of the meeting. 

Meanwhile, the future of the farming sector is being discussed in a parallel initiative presented by the European Commission in September, promoting “more dialogue and less polarisation.”    

The “strategic dialogue” brings together a total of 29 stakeholders in the food sector, who have been meeting since January. They are expected to unveil a roadmap for EU agriculture by September.   

But the text did not reach the needed full consensus, with only 25 member states supporting it, Romania voting against, and Slovakia choosing to abstain. 

According to Clarinval, the two countries expressed their disagreement with the CAP’s external convergence mechanism, that aims to gradually align payments between member states.  The process started with the 2014 CAP reform and is still ongoing.

Though the text proposed by the Belgian Presidency mentioned the need to “ensure a fair distribution of CAP support, in particular direct payments, among member states,” Bucharest was not satisfied with the wording.

A Slovak spokesperson told Euractiv that Bratislava supported the conclusions overall, but would have preferred them to include a commitment to speed up the process and allow farmers across the EU to be on an equal footing when it comes to receiving direct payments. 

In January, Slovakia – supported by Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania – submitted a note to the Council calling for a revision of the CAP to accelerate external convergence.  

Over the weekend, it was Italy that raised questions on the same point, but from the opposite perspective, a source close to the negotiations told Euractiv.  

Historically lukewarm on the process of financial support convergence, Rome endorsed the conclusions after obtaining a statement attached to the document. This clarified that the “fair distribution of CAP support” must take account of differences in terms of purchasing power and production costs between member states.

Unanimous support for the document would have allowed the Belgian Presidency to seal the Council’s conclusions. In the absence of agreement, the text was published as “the Presidency conclusions”, a formulation with less political weight.

The conclusions, however, represent “a widely supported vision for the future of agriculture and set out our ambitions for a competitive sector,” stressed Clarinval.   

Key themes

The text urges the European Commission to work towards a food strategy that ensures “sufficient, safe and sustainable” food in the EU, highlighting the concept of “food security”. 

Responding to the wave of farmers’ protests that spread across the bloc earlier this year, the conclusions recognise “the many reasons for dissatisfaction” expressed in the agricultural sector. 

The high level of alleged red tape in the CAP was one of the key concerns expressed by farmers. The conclusions acknowledge the “frequent changes” in EU rules, their complexity, and the need to reduce their administrative burden.

The text urges the European Commission to continue monitoring EU policies and also recalls the role of national authorities in simplifying procedures.

“Member States are the first points of contact for farmers and are responsible for the management and the distribution of EU funds,” reads the document.     

The ministers’ conclusions also support a “fair, open, rules-based trading system” and a “level playing field” at the international level.

They refer to a 2022 report by the EU executive that found room for extending the bloc’s production standards to imported products “in full respect” with the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) rules.

The concept of reciprocity standards – also called “mirror clauses” – has gained traction in recent months as EU politicians have sought to deal with accusations of “unfair competition” from cheap imports from third countries, which have been at the heart of farmers’ protests. 

On the sustainability front, which has also been a contentious issue, the ministers acknowledge that “the preservation of ecosystems is crucial to ensuring food security.” 

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Rajnish Singh]

Read more with Euractiv