CAP reform: Flexibility is key
No one knew how much money they had to play with until the overall EU budget was agreed four weeks ago.
And last week’s first get-together of 27 EU agriculture ministers and the commission was not very conclusive. Council President Simon Coveney welcomed broad support for his proposal on distribution of payments within member states — but some ministers and Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos looked for greater movement to flat rate payments. A new redistributive payment proposal was broadly supported, but it came out of left field and will need lengthy consideration.
