Not only the size of the cuts is important but also changes in the way requirements for matching funds from national governments are calculated, eligibility conditions, and who is to manage the funds, he stressed.
Speaking in Ponta Delgada, the capital of the Azores, at the closing sessIon of a forum organised by the region’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIA), the Agricultural Federation of the Açores and the UGT trade union federation, the president described the current moment in the European Union as “difficult” and argued that “it makes all the difference” whether decisions are taken now, before the elections for the European Parliament and the selection of a new European Commission, or afterwards.
According to de Sousa, the “worst example that Europe could give” in the current global setting is “this lack of definition about itself”.
According to a proposal presented last week in Brussels, the commission foresees a total CAP budget of €7.6 billion, at current prices, for the period from 2021 to 2027 inclusive - down from €8.1 billion in the current budget. There would be a slight increase in direct payments and cuts in funds for rural development, to be offset by national budgets.
In the Azores, the president notes, concerns about the impact of the changes include issues such as the price paid farmers for the milk they produce and investments made under the ‘second pillar’ of agricultural policy, in the scope of rural development. “We’re talking about concrete realities, real investments, of real people and real economic activities,” he stressed,
Europe, he argued, cannot be strong if it “stops investing in social and territorial cohesion”.
The president also expressed his concern that the EU “does not stop considering as its priority growth and employment”.