Urgent letter: The European Parliament threatens to halt negotiations on the agricultural budget

In the European Parliament, resistance is growing against the budget plans of the European Commission leadership. Four parties threaten to halt negotiations on the 2 trillion euro budget if the Commission does not meet seven key demands. The letter is signed by the leaders of the European People's Party (EPP), the Social Democrats (S&D), the liberal group Renew Europe, and the Greens/EFA, reports agrarheute. The apple of discord is the plan to unify regional funding and agricultural subsidies into centralized national programs worth a total of 865 billion euros. This proposal is as unpopular among farmers as it is among agriculture ministers, regional representatives, and MEPs. The main concern is that the merging of agricultural and regional funding could blur the policy goals. It would create new conflicts in allocation and threaten the transparency and effectiveness of EU funding policies. In the letter, MEPs list seven proposed changes to the planned national programs. ...