‘EU budget must be used wisely’

THE European Union’s €88 billion rural development budget over the next six years must be spent well, Commissioner Marian Fischer Boel has warned.

“There is no room for poor management,” she told a seminar on Brussels, after predicting that in 2013 rural development would take up 21% of the Common Agricultural Policy budget for that year.

Ms Fischer Boel said traditionally it’s the first pillar of the policy that has been subjected to the most scrutiny. But sometimes success breeds new challenges.