While the European Commission is putting the final touches on a major revision of the multiannual budget, an emergency meeting has been scheduled for the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament. That committee will meet not only on Tuesday but also on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the Agriculture Committee will advise on a one-off CAP transitional scheme, and possibly other current issues will be addressed, such as a buyback scheme for fruit, dairy, and meat products.
And because the European Commission will announce a completely revised multiannual financial framework on Wednesday, the Agriculture Committee will hold an extra meeting on Thursday. There, Agriculture Commissioner Wojciechowski will discuss not only the effects of the budget changes on agriculture, horticulture, and fisheries but also the emergency measures for the purchase and storage of agricultural and dairy products.
President Ursula von der Leyen and her 27 EU Commissioners have been instructed by the heads of government to set aside all their previous plans and budgets because due to the corona crisis, a massive recovery plan requiring several hundred billion euros is needed. As a result, nearly everything in Brussels is being reconsidered these days, including the financing of the European agricultural policy. On Wednesday, it may become clear from the adjustments to the EU budgets whether the CAP budget will be cut or restored in some way.
Earlier versions of the MFF (multiannual financial framework) included a cut of tens of billions from the CAP budget, partly as a result of the tightened European Climate and Environmental Policy, the Green Deal. Now that hundreds of billions must be gathered for an economic recovery plan in the coming years, there are no sacred principles left in Brussels: almost everything is up for discussion.
One major exception seems to be made by the European Commission for Climate Policy and the Green Deal, also called the 'flagship' of this Commission. Von der Leyen and Vice-President Frans Timmermans have repeatedly emphasized that drastic economic recovery and repair due to corona is only possible through a genuine change in European thinking and doing. So they appear intent on maintaining their farm-to-fork (F2F) strategy.
The European farmers' organization COPA-COGECA has requested that agriculture be included as a priority sector in the corona recovery plan. In that case, agriculture could also draw on that mega recovery fund. Accordingly, current CAP support could be wholly or partly replaced by subsidies from the (yet to be established) corona recovery fund or from Timmermans' Green Deal fund. And very different conditions may apply to subsidies from these two new EU funds.
Dutch Member of the European Parliament Paul Tang, who negotiates on behalf of the European Parliament on financing the Green Deal, already gave a preview of this in a press release. “It is important that a rescue fund explicitly takes into account the European Green Deal. Half of this fund must go to sustainable activities, and companies may only be supported if they sufficiently commit to people and the environment. Through a new social contract, companies can be obligated to pay fair taxes, provide decent labor contracts, and promote the transition to a CO2-neutral society.”