The new 2028-2034 European financial framework and the CAP reform proposed by the European Commission 23 This analysis of the Commission's proposals is based on financial allocations that are likely to be revised downwards. The risks analysed are therefore 'a minima' risks. A proposal for a largely renationalised single fund The European Commission proposes to bring together most of the EU's traditional policies and their funding under a single regulation and a single fund. The current CAP, cohesion policy, ESF+, fisheries policy, environmental and climate policies, as well as the European crisis fund, would be merged into a single framework: the regulation on National and Regional Partnership Plans (NRPP, with an overall allocation reduced to €865 billion for the period 2028-2034. More than 97% of this budget is distributed among Member States through national allocations proposed by the Commission. In fact, the only means of action remaining at European level is the Interreg budget (€10.2 billion and a reserve margin for the EU of €15 billion, in addition to the €6.3 billion reserve for crises and the regulation of agricultural markets. CAP funding: -17.6% and €300 billion maximum In this context, €293.7 billion are ring-fenced for the new CAP and allocated to Member States, with an additional €6.3 billion earmarked for agricultural crisis management and market stabilisation. At current prices, the CAP budget would see a significant reduction of 17.6% between the periods 2021-2027 and 2028-2034, i.e. a reduction of -38% in value (constant prices) compared to 2020. The European Commission proposes a multi-speed approach to Member States' contributions to reduce the CAP budget, with efforts distributed unevenly. This raises questions regarding the distribution key used. The proposal makes the Netherlands the "relative winners," or rather the "best losers," alongside Portugal and Spain. Although the European Commission proposes to allow Member States that so wish (and are able) to significantly increase their co-financing of the future CAP, it should be recalled that between 2021 and 2024, in a Member State such as the Netherlands, farmers benefited from significant national financial supplements in the form of state aid, which doubled their direct payments during that period. While France, Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia are broadly maintaining their share of the (reduced) CAP budget in relation to the current distribution between countries, Ireland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Greece, Denmark and Luxembourg are among the losers. Funding for POSEI measures, Cohesion, ESF+: competition and lack of funding The European Commission proposes to remove the financing of POSEI, LEADER and school fruit and vegetable schemes from the CAP envelope. The Member States concerned will therefore have to finance POSEI measures from their non-CAP NRPP allocation. Within this non-CAP allocation, Member States will be responsible for allocating funding for measures relating to cohesion, the social fund, fisheries, POSEI, LEADER and the school scheme, among the main ones. European Commission rhetoric that does not stand up to scrutiny of the figures "Are non-CAP NRPP allocations sufficient to meet all expectations?" – FALSE and unrealistic In view of the drastic reduction proposed for the CAP budget, the European Commission is leaving it up to Member States to supplement
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