European Parliament pushes for fast recovery aid

On 13 October, the Agriculture Committee of the European Parliament voted for a fast, targeted and sustainable recovery package for EU farmers, food producers and rural areas. The European recovery instrument that gives the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) an additional 8 billion EUR (current prices) was initially proposed by the European Commission to be made available only after the entry into force of the new CAP, in 2023.  

However, the European Parliament wants to incorporate this fund into the transitional measures that have already been agreed upon beforehand, therefore starting to release the money already in the next two years. For the year 2021, MEP’s agreed to release around 30%, the remaining 70% shall be made available in 2022. 

Complementing the overall goals of the Green Deal to increase resilience and sustainability, the Agricultural Committee proposes, among others, to ringfence at least 37% of the aid for environment and climate-related actions, another 55% for the support of young farmers’ business start-ups and on-farm investments.

The complete text of the proposal by the European Parliament will now be negotiated with the Council.