Rural communities fear the centralisation of the common agricultural policy

In line with the European Commission's proposal for a fresh EU budget for the period 2028–2034, the Common Agricultural Policy is to be integrated into national and regional partnership plans. However, the agricultural and self-government environments indicate that the planned improvement could lead to centralisation of the system. Representatives of agrarian municipalities stress that grants should go consecutive to regions that know their needs best.

– I represent the Union of agrarian Commons of Polandin the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels and there, together with local governments from all over the country, we are seeking to change the approach to budgeting the next perspective. We powerfully advocate that EU money goes to regions. They will surely better and more wisely manage them together with the municipalities – says Newseria Stanislaw Jastrzębski, mayor of the commune of Długosidodło and president of the Union of agrarian Commons of the Republic of Poland.

A conference on the future of the CAP in the fresh financial position was held on 3 March at the European Committee of the Regions in Brussels. Representatives of the EU institutions, governments, regions and agricultural organisations stressed their concern at the proposed improvement of the EU agricultural policy, notably the weakening of its regional dimension and the limitation of the capacity of local and regional authorities to have resources and to adapt them to regional needs. In their view, the proposed changes may reduce the predictability of farmers' and agrarian funding.

Mr Stefan Krajewski, Minister of Agriculture and agrarian Development, stressed that the future CAP should hold its Community character and that its renationalisation or weakening of the common financial framework should not be allowed. As he added, the two-pillar structure of the CAP has proved its advanced effectiveness and should be preserved.

– We have developed good mechanisms by which regions distributed money through a strategy of various calls, i.e. competitions. Of course, it should be urged that regions cooperate with local areas, that competitions are targeted and tailored to circumstantial needs. There are times erstwhile we should not give money where there is no future development. We must force local governments to specify the possible of developing the area for the next 10 to 20 years. We request to paper how many people there are, how many children are born, what is the chance of improvement – emphasizes Stanisław Jastrzębski.

In the current perspective, the CAP budget amounts to EUR 387 billion. In its first proposal for the period 2028–2034 in July 2025, the European Commission planned to safe a minimum of €300 billion in support of farmers' income and crisis measures, but the European Parliament calls for an increase in the envelope.

– We could always usage more money, due to the fact that we inactive have any catching up we'd like to catch up on. We must consider the current situation, specified as depopulation. We request to be aware of the possible of the improvement of a given area and locality so that we can place this money wisely. We're not just investing for today's needs, but we gotta do it in the next 10, 20 or 30 years. – emphasises the president of the Union of agrarian Commons of the Republic of Poland.