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.

Yesterday (Monday, January 19), a meeting took place between key MEPs and European commissioners on the partnerships plans, which will form part of the long-term EU budget - the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - from 2028 to 2034.

The meeting involved Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen and Commissioner for Budget Piotr Serafin, as well as Commission Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms Raffaele Fitto.

Those members of the commission met with members of the European Parliament's committees on budgets, regional development and agriculture.

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.

Commenting after the meeting with the commissioners, Croatian MEP Karlo Ressler, who is the leading MEP for the partnership plans on the budgets committee, said: "We begin the legislative work on the regulation that will shape how nearly half of the next EU budget is managed.

"By merging diverse policy areas - from fisheries and food security to border management and social policy - into single national plans, the proposal represents the most far-reaching shift in EU fund management to date and one of the most politically and strategically sensitive elements of the new MFF," Ressler added.

Bulgarian MEP Andrey Novakov, who takes the lead on this policy for the regional development committee, said: "€780 billion under the National and Regional Partnership Plans represents the EU’s soft power. But the European Parliament needs to ensure that the plans are more regional than national, more cohesive than divisive, more flexible than restrictive.

"It is time to co-write the rules with the regions, cities and rural areas on board. In a world of disorder, the EU’s regional policy is a safe haven for communities, cities and rural areas because investment is appreciated when it is needed," Novakov added.

The leading MEP for partnership plans on the agriculture committee, Elis Katainen from Finland, said: "We are on the verge of discussing significant legislation, as this proposal contains around 44% of the overall MFF budget and the change for the usual structure of the MFF is significant.

"First and foremost, the funding for the future CAP needs to be at least maintained at the level of the current CAP funding in real terms," Katainen said.

"In addition, the programs implemented through the first and second pillars of the current common agricultural policy need to be secured. I hope that we will have open and compromise-oriented negotiations, where we truly look for large consensus within the parliament," the Finnish MEP said.