European Union ‘should reduce spend on agriculture’

The European Union should reduce its agriculture spending that accounts for 40% of the €129 billion budget and focus instead on forward looking areas such as climate change, energy and job creation, the European Commission’s budget chief has said.

The commission wants to change the way the EU collects funds and what it spends the money on and has just published the results of its consultation with national governments, NGOs, citizens and other groups.

It says the budget system needs a complete overhaul to make it more transparent and allow it to fund policies and respond to emergencies — such as food aid for poor countries and the economic crisis.