The European Commission is set to propose merging Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funding with other funds, in a radical overhaul of how farmers receive financial supports from the European Union budget.
Draft documents of the proposals, seen by RTÉ News, indicate that from the start of the next EU budgetary cycle in 2028, the commission plans to pool dedicated agricultural and rural financial supports into a single National and Regional Partnerships fund.
The proposal would mean CAP would no longer be a stand-alone fund within the EU budget but would instead be merged with EU cohesion, migration, and infrastructure funding.
This could result in certain funding for agriculture within the EU budget no longer being ringfenced and see financial supports funnelled away from farming and into other areas.
In the draft, the commission argues the change would allow for “stronger synergies between policies”, and create a more flexible, crisis-responsive budget that better reflects the EU’s shared priorities.
The commission will outline its proposals to MEPs later today for the next EU budget – known as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – which comes into effect in 2028.
Irish farmers receive around €2 billion annually in CAP payments to help support the rural economy and food production.
This funding is divided into two pillars – the first comprising direct payments to farmers, with the second focusing on rural development.
However, the draft commission document proposes to guarantee “coherence by integrating the CAP interventions from the current two-funds structure under one single umbrella”.
The proposal suggests member states would have more power to reallocate funding “based on their specific needs rather than uniform allocations”.
Some Irish MEPs who have seen the leaked commission proposals say they risk CAP funding to farmers being considerably reduced, with some estimates suggesting they could see a drop of up to 30%.
Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh, who is a member of the European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee, said they “highlight a real risk of the already insufficient CAP budget being further decreased”.
“While the relevance of some pillar-two tools – from farm advisory services to LEADER programmes – is maintained in the proposal, the funding is uncertain.
“Without guaranteed investment, our rural communities and farmers will suffer. For example, the ringfenced funding for LEADER programmes has been abolished – I will be fighting within the Agriculture Committee to reverse this decision,” she added.
The commission’s plans also recommend CAP funding “should be focused on active farmers”, meaning supports would be “targeted towards farmers who exercise agriculture as a principal activity”.
In addition, the proposals would increase supports for younger farmers significantly, with funding for the costs of establishing a new farm potentially rising from €100,000 to €300,000.
Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly said he is “alarmed and concerned” by the reported proposals “to scrap a fund with millions of euros of Pillar 2 rural development grants.
“These grants provide a lifeline to many parts of the midlands, west, north west and north east,” he said.
He added that “the Commissioner is proceeding against the advice of all farmers and community groups with a single fund to be merged with cohesion funds paid to member states.
“The scale of cuts in the budget being proposed are absolutely disastrous for Irish farmers.”
‘Big battle ahead’ – IFA
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has described the draft proposals as “very concerning”.
IFA President Francie Gorman said: It is clear that the EU Commission is downgrading the importance of the CAP and food production to allow for greater spending elsewhere.
“The CAP is being turned into an environmental and social policy. Support for farmers who are producing the most food is being consistently reduced.
“At a time when Ireland is a net contributor to the overall EU budget, this level of investment in every parish takes on even more significance,” he said.
“CAP has been the cornerstone of the multi-billion export sector that underpins thousands of jobs in regions far from the urban centres.
“There is a big battle ahead to retrieve a coherent policy from what the EU Commission is proposing,” he added.
‘Beginning of a protracted process’
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon has said that the commission’s budget proposals are “just the beginning of a protracted process”.
The minster said: “Member States will, through the Council of Ministers, begin the process of agreeing a general approach to the commission’s proposals, before engaging in line-by-line negotiations with the EU Parliament and the EU Commission.
“This will take some time, and I fully expect the progression of these proposals to be a significant feature of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of next year.
“My priority throughout will be to ensure that the legislation finally agreed reflects Ireland’s concerns, and provides certainty and stability for farmers,” the minister added.
Once the commission sets out its proposed EU budget, this will start a process of debate and negotiation that will ultimately lead to a final vote on the next budget for the bloc, that would begin in 2028.
Ireland is expected to play an important role in this process, especially regarding CAP funding, given that we will hold the rolling six-month EU presidency for the second half of 2026.
