The Agriculture Fair held last week was, as tradition dictates, an opportunity to express the “anger” of the agricultural world, which is never satisfied with the government’s policy concerning their sector.
Yet, agriculture (the current CAP budget represents 38% of the total) is one of the large chunks of aid that the European Union provides to member states… with France at the forefront!
This aid represents 62% of the total envelope that the country receives from the EU. To claim to be dissatisfied…
The main expenditure line of the European Union, the Common Agricultural Policy represents a budget of 408.3 billion euros for the 2014-2020 period.
As famous as it is criticized, the CAP* and specifically its budget are currently at the heart of discussions in the context of defining the next European budgetary framework for the 2021-2027 period.
The EAGF, with an envelope of 278 billion euros for the 2014-2020 period, primarily finances direct aid to farmers who demonstrate “good agricultural and environmental practices” as well as measures to support the agricultural market, with the aim of responding to market disturbances.
The EAFRD is intended for rural development and represents 100 billion euros over the same period. It serves six objectives, including innovation in the agricultural sector, the viability and competitiveness of agriculture, and social inclusion.
France, the primary beneficiary of the CAP
France is by far the member state that receives the most aid under the CAP, nearly 9 billion euros. It is followed by Germany (6.4 billion) and Spain, which receives approximately 6 billion euros. Italy, for its part, is in fourth place with 5.5 billion euros, closely followed by Poland, whose aid amounts to about 4.5 billion euros.
Conversely, the island of Malta receives only 19 million euros from the CAP, making it the smallest beneficiary of this aid. It is followed by Luxembourg with 48 million euros, Cyprus with 70 million euros, and Estonia with a little over 200 million euros.
The United Kingdom, whose departure from the European Union is planned for 2019, receives about 4 billion euros in aid, making it the 6th largest recipient of the CAP.
As a reminder, the biggest contributors to the European Union’s budget are Germany (23.3 billion euros in 2016), France (19.5 billion euros), and Italy (13.9 billion euros). The United Kingdom, on its way out, ranks fourth with a contribution to the EU budget amounting to 12.8 billion euros.
