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40perc of eu budget is farm subsidies { October 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://euobserver.com/19/25102http://euobserver.com/19/25102
Brussels seeks cuts in EU cash for big farms
07.11.2007 - 17:34 CET | By Lucia Kubosova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - As part of an attempt to revamp the common agriculture policy, the European Commission is later this month to suggest that big farms receive less money from the EU's coffers.
The extra money would instead be earmarked for plans to boost rural development.
The commission is on 20 November due to publish an analysis of the bloc's use of direct subsidies and other farm funds, which still eat up about 40 percent of the union's budget.
The paper will put forward several ideas on how to simplify and improve the use of EU money which will then be discussed by the European Parliament and member states.
Based on their reactions, Brussels will then propose concrete legislative measures by next May.
A major part of the envisaged shake-up is a shift of EU money from direct aid to farmers to activities that maintain rural areas. The major target of such reallocations are to be large farms.
The reasoning behind the idea is that "large farms already have a significant economy per scale and therefore do not need similar per hectare payments as small farms would need," explained Michael Mann, the commission's spokesman for agriculture.
"We seek better ways of handing out available resources," he added.
But the suggestion is expected to face some criticism. In 2002, the EU executive proposed similar cuts for large farms and had to drop them due to opposition by some member states.
"Last time it [the commission plan on reductions] didn't get beyond the ideas stage - we will have to see what happens this time," noted Mr Mann.
In its November paper, Brussels is due to suggest "illustrative examples" on how to calculate the reductions according to the size of farms - such as a cut by 10 percent for farms over 100,000 hectares, and higher cuts for larger holdings.
The spokesman confirmed, however, that the commission would take into consideration and make exceptions for farms with several owners, such as the holdings in eastern Germany or some new member states, created on the basis of former collective farms after the fall of the centrally planned economy in the former Socialist bloc.
Last month, EU agriculture ministers agreed new transparency rules to make it clearer who receives what from the bloc's generous farm coffers. The plan is to publish the list of beneficiaries in each country online.
The move came after several analyses highlighted some of the wealthy beneficiaries of EU farm money.
The top 15 percent of French farming companies consume 60 percent of the direct payments while the UK's Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles received in 2003-2004 around £1 million (€1.5 million) in EU farm subsidies.
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