Brexit: CAP budget under pressure

29.9.2017

Question for written answer E-006141-17
to the Commission
Rule 130
Jean-François Jalkh (ENF)

As part of its post-2020 reform, the CAP budget may be cut to make way for new initiatives. Since the mid-1980s, the CAP’s share of the EU budget has been halved while, with enlargement, the number of farmers has doubled. The Commission’s ambitions are likely to put pressure on agricultural policy funds. In its reflection paper ‘on the future of EU finances’, published in late June 2017, it proposed a smaller budget for the CAP, creating some financial pressure. Similarly, the UK’s expected departure from the Union will leave a EUR 12 billion hole in the post-2020 budget.

The logical solution is for the Member States to increase their net contribution to the budget. The Jacques Delors Institute takes the view that ‘with regard to the common agricultural policy, the impact of higher contributions would be distributed among fewer countries’.

Have the Member States’ contributions been quantified?

Will the financial pressure caused by Brexit allow the CAP to maintain its commitments, including on competitiveness?