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More - not less - money needed to save Europe's countryside

Brussels, April 11 - The future of the European countryside is in jeopardy due to a lack of funding, an alliance of European young farmers, organic farmers' organisations and NGOs has warned. In a letter to EU Finance Ministers ahead of their meeting tomorrow, the alliance calls on them to boost the budget for the rural development fund (EAFRD - the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) in order to help promote the competitiveness of rural areas and stop the further degradation of Europe's countryside [2].

The Commission's current proposal for the EU's budget allocations for 2007-2013 already means an effective decrease of 3% in rural development funding [3]. Any further erosion of the contribution to the EU budget will seriously hamper the EU's own plans to use the rural development funds to finance new measures such as the protection of Natura 2000 sites[4], a set of new forestry measures, measures to improve animal welfare and tools for economic diversification in rural areas. Furthermore, it would reduce the agricultural sectors' chances of becoming more competitive.

EU governments must increase the budget still further to encourage farmers to make more investments in order to improve competitiveness and sustainability and to better the EU's chances of meeting its commitment to halt biodiversity loss by 2010. Any decrease in the budget would make it harder for the EU to improve animal welfare, ensure young farmers receive the help they need to set themselves up in business and implement the action plan on organic food and farming. For this reason, the funds available to rural development projects should be increased, not decreased.

It is time the EU put its money where its mouth is and came up with the funds needed to achieve and respect its agreed objectives. Not only are these funds necessary to meet European citizens' expectations for quality production, but they are vital for the future protection of Europe's rural environment and a living countryside with farmers taking care of our rural landscapes.

For further information

Arjan Berkhuysen, Chair of the agriculture working group, EEB, tel: 0031302348218
Sylvain Marmier, President, CEJA, tel: 0033 608465457
Martin Konecny, EU funds coordinator, Friends of the Earth Europe, tel: 003225420185

Notes:

• Signing organisations are: BirdLife, Conseil Européen des Jeunes Agriculteurs (CEJA), European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Eurogroup for Animal Welfare, Friends of the Earth Europe, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements - EU Regional Group (IFOAM) and WWF.
• The EU's rural development policies are part of the Common Agricultural Policy.
• The Commission's proposal for the Financial Perspectives allocates EUR 88.8 billion for rural development for the period 2007-2013 at constant prices. An additional EUR 7.0 billion would be channelled into the rural development fund from the main CAP budget.
• Natura 2000 is the EU's main tool for halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 and covers approximately 17% of the EU territory. 60% of the surface area of Natura 2000 is managed by farmers and foresters. The Commission estimates the annual costs of financing Natura 2000 at EUR 6.1 billion. The European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development is supposed to be one of the major sources of Community financing for Natura 2000.