EU fails to put its money where its mouth is

Press Release

EU fails to put its money where its mouth is

PRESS RELEASE

[30th June 2011, Brussels] - The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) reacted with disappointment to the European Commission’s plans for the next EU Budget, which they described as vague on delivery and shows no departure from business as usual. The Commission last night published a proposal for Europe’s spending for 2014-2020.

The EEB did recognise however that the proposal does include a number of good political intentions. The Commission wants to stop the current money flow towards damaging subsidies, which currently forces Europeans to pay for two bills: one to support the subsidy and one to clean up the damage caused by bad practice.

However when coming down to the numbers, the budget for rural development - which includes the most advanced environmental schemes under the common agricultural policy (CAP) - will continue to remain disproportionately small compared to the amount of money handed out directly to farmers, says EEB. In addition, the only dedicated instrument for the environment, LIFE+, will continue to represent only a faction of the overall EU budget.

“The new budget must present a radical shift from business as usual but instead it risks radically failing to deliver money on the agreed European objectives such as tackling climate change, biodiversity loss and reducing resource consumption,” said EEB Policy Director Pieter de Pous.

“Citizens’ money should be delivering for the public good and the Commission has to stop delivering on one hand while taking away with the other.”

EEB said that in order to achieve their political commitments, the Commission must now provide the right tools and incentives. The CAP represents the earliest opportunity to do this but requires more ambitious proposals. As it stands only 30% of the CAP direct payments would support sustainable agricultural practice and EEB fears this will not be enough to ensure more farmers follow these good practices in order to receive EU taxpayers money.

EEB stressed that all now depends on the quality of the Commission’s individual legislative proposals, as well as the Member States’ and European Parliament’s reaction to these, whether the Commission’s good intentions will materialise.

Contact:

Pieter de Pous, EU Policy Director, +32 (0) 2 289 13 06, pieter.depous@eeb.org