ROMA (ITALPRESS) – “The ones coming from Brussels are good news and confirm the seriousness of the work done by Italy. We opposed it and guided the front of the “No” to the proposal for revision of the Common Agricultural Policy that destined Italy only 31 billion euros despite the efforts of the Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto that I thank for the work he did. Today we can say that not only is the cut of 22% to the resources dedicated to agriculture in the period 2028-2034, but the financial allocation of 2021-2027 is even increased by one billion. What is equally important is that governments will no longer decide which area to devote resources to, but it is the Commission to establish the amount to be allocated exclusively to the primary sector. In doing so the specificity of the Pac is substantially saved.” The Minister for Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests Francis Lollobrigida commented on the letter sent by the European Commission to the President of the European Parliament and the EU Council.
In the proposal for budget 2028-2034, in fact, the Commission had foreseen a cut of 22% to the budget devoted to agricultural policies, giving Italy 31 billion euros against the 37.7 billion of the previous multiannual allocation. Italy had opposed and led the opposition to policies that did not recognize the centrality of the primary sector and denounce the risk of renationalization of the CAP, that is, that governments could decide to allocate agricultural resources to other uses.
Today the Commission has averted these risks by binding the use of 5 billion euros of the so-called Rural Target to agricultural measures in rural areas and allocate additional 4.7 billion euros, part of the un allotted reserve of the Italian budget, always to the primary sector. For Italy the account therefore marks +10 billion euros to agriculture, while at European Union level the potential increase of resources can mark a +94 billion euros for agricultural policies and a total budget of approximately 387 billion euros in seven years.
“With 40.7 billion euros, almost ten billion euros more than the original proposal of von der Leyen, Italian agriculture and farmers will be able to carry out their role as a guarantee of food sovereignty and of custodians of the territory seeing a fair income. Europe also does not betray the spirit of the Founding Fathers and devotes the right resources to an area that has been deemed to be residual in recent years,” concludes Minister Francesco Lollobrigida.
MELONI “SODDISFAZIONE PER LA DECISIONE DELLA COMMISSIONE EUROPEA”
“I welcome with satisfaction the decision of the European Commission to change, as required by Italy, the proposal of a new multiannual financial framework to make available, already from 2028, an additional 45 billion euros for the Common Agricultural Policy”. President Giorgia Meloni said so. “Assieme to the additional resources allocated last November to meet the demands of the European Parliament, this initiative not only achieves the goal of confirming also for the future the current level of funding, as required by Italian and European farmers – continues the premier – but provides additional resources. This is a positive and significant step forward in the negotiation that will lead to the new EU budget, which shows that the common sense line in support of European agriculture carried out with determination by the Italian Government is increasingly listening to Brussels.”.
-Photo IPA Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
