Von der Leyen proposes an early allocation of 45 billion for the CAP. Meloni: Italy heard

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposes a strengthening of support for agriculture in the next multiannual budget. It will have a ring-fenced budget of EUR 293.7 billion to ensure "a fair income for farmers and long-term food security".

It will allow states early access to resources from the mid-term review: 'around EUR 45 billion that can be mobilised immediately to support farmers'.

And the anti-crisis instruments will be strengthened, with 'a doubling to EUR 6.3 billion' of the safety net to stabilise agricultural markets.

"I welcome with satisfaction the European Commission's decision to amend, as requested by Italy, the proposal for the new multiannual financial framework to make an additional EUR 45 billion available for the Common Agricultural Policy as early as 2028". Thus in a note Council President Giorgia Meloni. "Together with the additional resources allocated last November to meet the requests of the European Parliament, this initiative not only achieves the goal of confirming the current level of funding for the future, as requested by Italian and European farmers, but also makes additional resources available. This is a positive and significant step forward in the negotiations that will lead to the new EU budget, which demonstrates that the common-sense line in support of European agriculture pursued with determination by the Italian government,' the premier emphasised, 'is increasingly being heard in Brussels.

"What comes from Brussels is good news and confirms the seriousness of the work done by Italy. We had opposed and led the 'No' front to the proposed revision of the Common Agricultural Policy, which allocated only EUR 31 billion to Italy despite the efforts of Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto, whom I thank for his work. Today we can say that not only is the 22% cut to the resources dedicated to agriculture in the 2028-2034 period cancelled, but the budget is even increased by one billion compared to the 2021-2027 period. What is equally important is that in essence it will no longer be the governments that decide which sector to devote the resources to, but it is the Commission that determines the amount to be allocated exclusively to the primary sector. In this way the specificity of the CAP is basically saved'. So says the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Francesco Lollobrigida commenting on the letter sent by the European Commission to the President of the European Parliament and the EU Council.