EU Budget

What is the EU doing?

The EU’s Financial Perspective 2007-2013 allowed governments to apply for funding of the implementation of Natura 2000 through the EU Rural Development and Regional Development budgets.

Earlier, it was agreed that implementing Natura 2000 would require €6.1 billion per year and that EU budgets could be used to cover 50% of these costs. However, despite strong lobbying from the environmental movement, these special Natura 2000 budgets were not approved and, in many cases, governments have decided to ask for much less as they set other priorities for using rural and regional EU subsidies.

Nowadays, in principle, EU funding decisions need environmental impact assessments - but this is often poorly done. Political pressure from Member States makes it difficult for the Commission to stick with environmental quality principles.Recently, the EEB and its members have been confronted with EU co-sponsored infrastructure projects that clearly undermine EU’s own nature protection policies.

In agriculture a gradual shift has taken place from production-stimulating subsidies to those that support farmers in different ways - and even move from subsidizing farmers to subsidizing rural communities. But this change is slow and insufficient.

Discussion on the next Financial Perspective (from 2014 to 2018 or 2020) has already started in the form of a consultation that took place in 2008 in which the EEB participated. In 2011 the negotiations will start on the basis of a proposal from the Commission.

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