The European Commission will look to redirect unspent money under Pillar II of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to boost supports under its Fertiliser Action Plan.

That is according to the EU's agri chief Christophe Hansen, European Commissioner for Agriculture, who spoke at a meeting of member state agriculture ministers yesterday (Tuesday, May 26).

The Fertiliser Action Plan was announced last week and outlined a number of short- and long-term measures to provide financial support to farmers dealing with increasing costs and tighter supplies of fertiliser.

However, farm organisations in the EU and here in Ireland were critical over a perceived lack of detail on how the commission plans to address costs and financial burdens on farmers in the here and now.

In order to provide liquidity for farmers, the commission said the plan would propose "targeted exceptional support" using existing crisis instruments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

Going into more detail on how CAP can be used as part of the fertiliser plan at yesterday's meeting of agriculture ministers, Commissioner Hansen said: "We have the liquidity tools, the CAP flexibility, this is very important because some member states have money that is not used, especially in the second pillar, or faces the risk of decommitment.

"This of course offers an opportunity to make use of this money that would otherwise be decommitted, so that is what we are looking at," the commissioner added.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, Commissioner Hansen said: "We will propose a dedicated CAP package where we will give more flexibility to the member states, not on the first pillar but mainly on the second pillar because it is in the second pillar where there is quite some funding because certain rural development plans don't work properly, because some projects that have been launched could not be finalised in the right direction."

Measures needed 'now, today'

Despite the commissioner providing some additional details on where funding under the Fertiliser Action Plan will come from, some ministers at yesterday's Council of the EU meeting still expressed concerns about a lack of immediate action.

The presidency of the EU is currently held by Cyprus. Its agriculture minister, Maria Panayiotou, said during the meeting (through a translation): "There are urgent measures that need to be taken now, today and these measures need to be fast-tracked so they can be more ambitious and help where help is needed.

"There needs to be a solid and tangible support for farmers, especially as regards the instruments and tools which fall under the CAP," she added.