Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze considers that the proposals on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) for 2028–2034, published by the European Commission (EC) on Wednesday, September 17th, are unacceptable, as they threaten not only the development of the agricultural and fisheries sectors, but even their resilience. The EC’s planned reduction in funding for agriculture in Latvia and other EU Member States for the period 2028–2034 is 23%, and for fisheries – 62%!
Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze: “The European Commission’s proposal is completely unacceptable, as it reduces support for agriculture by a quarter, and for fisheries by as much as two-thirds. This is a catastrophe! Moreover, this proposal does not include either the equalisation of direct payments or additional support for the rural regions of the European Union’s eastern border areas. We must all fight together – ministers, the prime minister, members of the Saeima, Latvian members of the European Parliament and sectoral organisations – at all levels for the future of Latvia’s agriculture and fisheries. The biggest fight in Brussels for adequate support to the agricultural and fisheries sectors is ahead, and it will be a very tough one.”
Already on Monday, September 22nd , the Minister of Agriculture in Brussels (Belgium), at the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting, will clearly express Latvia’s firm stance against the unacceptable EC proposals for CAP and CFP 2028–2034. In October of this year, Armands Krauze will again meet with Latvia’s Members of the European Parliament to set out the conditions under which the development of Latvia’s agriculture and fisheries is possible, the strategic importance of these sectors in ensuring the population’s food supply, and the incompatibility of the EC’s current proposal with this objective.
Taking into account the difficult economic conditions in the sectors and their impact on prices and consumers, Minister for Agriculture Armands Krauze stresses that it is necessary to achieve either an increase in CAP and CFP funding or preserve the funding at the current level.
The Minister believes it is unacceptable that the EC plans such a reduction in support, includes CAP and CFP in a single plan together with other policies, and leaves without a clear, safeguarded EU funding part of the most important support measures aimed at ensuring the population’s food supply and the viability of rural regions.
At the Council meeting, the Minister will insist that CAP and CFP must continue to be separate, distinct, strategic policies supporting agriculture, forestry, rural development, and fisheries.
According to the unacceptable proposal, the EC currently plans in the next multiannual financial period to create a single National and Regional Partnership (NRP) plan and fund, in which CAP and CFP funding would be included as separate components. Alongside this, the plan and fund would also include regional cohesion, migration, border management, internal security, and social policy. The main CAP and CFP conditions and the amount of financing would be determined in the single NRP regulation, but funding would only be earmarked for part of the agricultural, rural development, and fisheries policy objectives. For certain objectives, EU funding would not be earmarked but would be available according to each Member State’s national priorities and decisions, depending on the overall NRP funding available to the country. At present, both CAP and CFP and their respective implementation funds (the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, and the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund) exist as two separate EU policies, each with its own objectives, funding, legislation, and planning documents.