The EU strengthens the CAP to shield Mercosur. Rome has been heard
Brussels (ANSA) – More funds and available immediately: it is with the promise to allocate more resources – around 45 billion euros – for the future common agricultural policy that Ursula von der Leyen is seeking to secure a solid majority among the EU Twenty-Seven to finalize the free trade agreement with Mercosur.
And she gains the satisfaction of Rome, which has remained among the most critical both of the next EU budget (2028-2034) and of the agreement with the South American bloc comprising Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. French President Emmanuel Macron is also jubilant, seeing in the European progress “the result of our mobilization.”
The president of the EU Commission has proposed to unlock, starting in 2028 with the launch of the new multiannual financial framework, around 45 billion euros of resources ‘set aside’ to be mobilized only at a later stage during the future mid-term review of the CAP. An advance, in fact, from which the member states will be able to benefit by making a request when presenting their own national and regional partnership plans.
“A positive and significant step forward in the negotiation that will lead to the new EU budget,” exulted Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on social media, claiming that the “common-sense line in support of European agriculture, carried forward with determination by the Italian government, is finding ever greater resonance in Brussels.”
The new resources would be added to the roughly 302 billion already earmarked for the CAP, including direct subsidies to agricultural income (296 billion) and doubled crisis management funds (6.3 billion). For Italy, according to Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, the increase would translate into around 10 billion more compared to the 31 already planned between 2028 and 2034 (January 6).
