Germany eases its strong CAP stance

GERMAN support for a strong farm budget cooled this week, with the EU’s biggest paymaster saying all financial decisions have to be seen within the overall context of the EU budget — which Germany wants to limit at no more than 1% of the EU’s GDP.

France and Germany have led calls for a strong EU farm budget. They have been backed by Austria — the first member state to support the stance of the two EU heavyweights.

German state secretary for agriculture, Robert Kloos, emphasised general fiscal restraint at last Monday’s EU agriculture ministers meeting, but Germany and France still agree that moves to distribute CAP subsidies more equally between old and new EU states must be gradual, and not be on a hectare-based rate across the EU.