The agriculture ministers of the EU countries agree that the current financing of the Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2025-2027 should be continued in broad terms, including the recommendations of Commission President von der Leyen's Strategic Dialogue.
However, at their two-day monthly meeting in Luxembourg, the ministers did not take a position on abolishing agricultural subsidies after 2028, as already suggested in (not yet approved) Brussels official notes.
The European Parliament in Strasbourg is already paving the way for such a possible reorganisation of the EU budget with the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), as recently proposed by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. He believes that the EU should become much more economically competitive on the world stage, and believes that Brussels can 'shuttle back' many tasks and powers to the individual EU countries.
Such a 'renationalisation' in many policy areas would show great similarities with the national strategic plans (NSPs) that have been used in agricultural policy for several years. But many agricultural ministers were wary. Austrian Minister Totschnig said that European agricultural policy 'does not need a revolution', but that European farmers need certainty.
German Minister Özdemir said that "this whole MFF discussion has ended up on the wrong conference table". He stressed that the EU countries are not yet making any statements about such a future scenario after 2028.
Another sore point was the trade agreement with the Mercosur countries. Some EU countries say that imports of agricultural products from South America will put pressure on the competitive position of European farmers. France in particular threatens to still want to block the ratification of the agreement. Other EU countries such as Spain and Germany have a much more nuanced view on this.
In Brussels, it has now been suggested that a 'damage scheme' be set up for farmers who can demonstrate that they will actually suffer losses due to Mercosur. The influential agricultural umbrella organisation Copa-Cogeca has already rejected this. The European Commission reportedly wants to officially ratify the Mercosur agreement at the G20 meeting in November. French farmers have already called for renewed farmers' demonstrations.