Talks resume on EU budget as CAP funds appear safe

Leaders settled in for a long night of negotiations on the €1,000bn seven-year EU budget last night, but the early signs suggested that Ireland’s share of agriculture payments was safe.

Ireland gets most of the EU funding it receives under the Common Agriculture Policy. European Parliament president, Martin Schulz, said it would not suffer any further cuts.

Simon Coveney, minister for agriculture, who accompanied Enda Kenny to the summit in Brussels last night, was upbeat about Ireland’s chances of keeping its share from CAP that makes up 45% of the EU spend.

“We have worked hard and lobbied hard for that. And I think it will be a long night tonight but at the end of that, we will have protected our position.”

The cohesion fund is another area Ireland is keeping a close watch on and the country will hope to get sizeable funds from the social fund to pay for training and job experience opportunities for young people.

Under a proposal from European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy, Ireland would also qualify for a chunk of a multi-billion euro fund to help put the EU’s unemployment youth into jobs.

The summit, planned to start at 3pm, was delayed for over five hours as budget experts recalculated the figures as member states let it be known what they would accept, and what they would not.

On his way into the summit, Mr Kenny said he hoped a deal could be agreed and pointed out that Ireland, in its role as EU presidency, could only play a role once the broad figures are agreed by member states.

“It might be a long night but I’m sure that leaders will recognise that it would not be in Europe’s interest not to come to a conclusion.”

But in fact, Germany was floating the idea that it “would not be a disaster” if there was no agreement. Rather than a seven-year budget, the EU’s money would be managed on a year-to-year basis.

For many countries this would be a nightmare as funding for longer term projects could not be relied on. But it was an indication that Germany wanted a deal and was willing to play hardball to get it.

There were reports that Sweden and Denmark were being more hawkish than even Britain in looking for further cuts to the budget.

It was understood that Mr Van Rompuy had put before them a budget that said the absolute ceiling of EU spending over between 2014 and 2020 would be €960bn, which could be expected to end up at around €913bn as the full amount is never drawn down.

But British prime minister David Cameron had set his sights on a budget that comes in at under €900bn.

Mr Schulz made it clear during his half-hour presentation to the national leaders that the parliament wanted an ambitious budget, capable of fulfilling all the demand member states had made of it.

Picture: Taoiseach Enda Kenny speaks with French President Francois Hollande last night during the EU Budget summit at the European Council building in Brussels. Picture: PA