Reduced seven-year EU budget poses problems for farmers

Reduced seven-year EU budget poses problems for farmers

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, centre left, elbow bumps with European Council President Charles Michel, right, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, walks by during the EU summit in Brussels where leaders agreed the NextGenerationEU deal.

Irish farmers fear they will be among the losers in the historic recovery funding deal agreed by EU leaders earlier this week.

In the so-called NextGenerationEU deal, member states agreed to jointly borrow on capital markets for the first time, raising €750 billion, including €390bn in grants and €360bn in loans for EU members hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.