EU funding needed to sustain environmental legislation

EU funding in the agricultural sector must not be cut if the continent is to abide by "ambitious" environmental legislation in the future.

Albert Dess of the Group of the European People's Party has raised concerns that the budget set aside for farming between 2014 and 2020 will be severely depleted.

He stated that farmers across Europe will need the same amount of money that is being dished out across the sector in 2013.

This is especially true if the industry is going to follow the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) set out by the EU.

"Europe is growing and tasks farmers now have are becoming numerous," Mr Dess commented.

"We simply cannot accept the CAP being the only sector that is supposed to take cuts."

Last month, MEPs staged a vote in the European Parliament, which resulted in the vast majority calling for agricultural budgets to remain the same over the six-year period between 2014 and 2020.

Posted by Claire Manning