Agriculture budget could face double whammy (Gordon Liberal Democrats)

Gordon Liberal Democrats <info@libdems.org.uk>

Agriculture budget could face double whammy

February 2, 2012 5:32 PM
Originally published by George Lyon - Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland

George Lyon, Liberal Democrat MEP for Scotland, has held wide ranging discussions on CAP reform with the German government including Dr Freidrech Guth who heads up the Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection.

He also met with Gerd Sonnleitner, the President of both the German Farmers Union and COPA-COGECA.

During the discussions, Dr Guth confirmed Germany would be seeking to reduce the 2014-2020 budget from the1.05% of EU GDP proposed by the Commission to 1% of GDP - a reduction of approximately €51 billion over the budget period.

Following his visit, Mr Lyon said:

"It is clear that Germany, the largest net payer to the EU budget, wants to see the Commission's spending plans cut by over €50 billion. They will have the support of all the other net paying countries in this objective.

"They key question for farmers is whether that translates into a further cut in the CAP budget on top of the 12% cut already proposed by the Commission in its published spending plans.

"I believe that it would be wholly unfair to expect the agriculture budget to be hit by a double whammy of spending cuts when every other budget line was either increased or remained the same in real terms.

"If there are to be further cuts then other big spending areas such as cohesion funding must take the majority of the financial pain.

"I intend to use my new position as Vice President of the Budget Committee to ensure that the CAP budget is treated fairly when it comes to dividing up the financial cake."