An Irish MEP has called on Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU for the first six months of the year, to make the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) a "defining priority" during that time.

Fianna Fáil MEP Barry Cowen made the comments at a meeting of the European Parliament Agriculture Committee, which the Cypriot Minister for Agriculture, Maria Panayiotou, attended.

He said that negotiations on the future of the CAP post-2027 have "formally moved beyond the starting line, with discussions now underway on securing a properly resourced CAP in the next EU budget".

Cowen is the lead negotiator for the Renew Europe group (of which Fianna Fáil is a member) for the CAP reform.

Cowen told the Cypriot minister that there are "deep concerns" across the farming community that the next CAP could leave farmers worse off, particularly once inflation is taken into account.

The Midlands North-West MEP said that there is a "sharp contrast" between the current CAP budget and the figures proposed for the next long-term EU budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

He called for food security to be treated as strategically important alongside defence and security.

Cowen said that securing a "strong, stable and predictable CAP" must be a "defining priority" of Cyprus' presidency.

The MEP said: "I think there's one thing that farmers care more about than single funds or pillar systems or standalone policies, and that's how much money they end up with in their pocket.

"So the existing budget, for example, for CAP is €386 billion. The proposed one is €296 billion. If we were to run with inflation since 2021, it'd be €472 billion," he said.

He asked Minister Panayiotou what would be a "good landing place" for the Cypriot presidency for the MFF and "its potential to meet the demands that we all aspire to achieve".

CAP negotiations

The European Parliament has officially launched its work on the proposal from the European Commission to tie farm payments into new 'National and Regional Partnership Plans' (NRPP) after 2027.

Earlier this month, a meeting took place between key MEPs and European commissioners on the partnership plans, which will form part of the long-term EU budget - the MFF - from 2028 to 2034.

The National and Regional Partnership Plans will bundle farm payments into funding pots for each member state that will include other funding areas beside agriculture.

Although the commission has proposed to ringfence a certain amount of funding for farm payments, this would be well below what is currently provided for in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), potentially leaving agriculture to compete with other funding areas to get the same level of farm payments that now exist.