EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Modern EU

The Commission's published a revised proposal for a “reinforced” CAP’s budget, which included two key aspects: a) support for rural areas and farmers as guarantors of ensuring food security, and b) providing adequate means in implementation of the European Green Deal; both directions are instrumental to the success of farmers in the member states and the European agriculture in general.

Revised proposal

The revised proposal for the EU multi-annual financial framework (called MFF budget for 2021-27) adopted on 2 June 2020, substantially reinforces the initial CAP funding: thus, € 391 billion is proposed for agriculture and rural development during this period, which signifies the importance of agriculture and rural development in the member states.

The new proposal adds € 26.4 billion to the Commission's 2018 proposal, and it is 2% higher than 2020 funding levels (it means that the sector will receive 2% more funds each year than it received in 2020).

The Commission’s recovery plan also increased the post-2020 European Maritime Fisheries Fund, the EMFF with an additional €500 million, which is more than 8% compared to the initial budget. This additional funding aims to strengthen the resilience of the fisheries sector and provide the necessary scope for crisis management in the future. In this respect, all EMFF funding will continue to promote the achievement of the economic, social and environmental objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy. Achieving sustainable fisheries is an investment in the resilience of the sector and in the future of fishermen’s profession in the years to come.

Reference: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/STATEMENT_20_990

In this way both the farmers and fishermen will be given additional resources to continue agro-food production and fisheries in a more sustainable way, especially during and after the pandemic crisis. These financial resources will also make both sectors more resilient to external shocks while continuing to benefit from the Single Market with strong competitive advantages.

They will also contribute to the European Green Deal objectives, including the 2030 Biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies.