Belgium expected to receive 3.87 billion Euro for agriculture

On 1 June 2018 the European Commission published its proposals for regulations modernising and simplifying the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), consisting in a regulation on the CAP Strategic Plans (a proposed new way of working covering direct payments to farmers, rural development support and sectoral support programmes), a regulation on the Single Common Market Organisation (CMO) and a horizontal regulation on financing, managing and monitoring the CAP, and announced the available budget for the CAP beyond 2020.

The EU budget 2021-2027 available for the CAP amounts to 365 billion euro, which corresponds to an average share of 28.5% of the overall EU budget for the period 2021-2027. Out of this amount, 265.2 billion euro is for direct payments, 20 billion euro for market support measures (EAGF) and 78.8 billion euro is for rural development (EAFRD). An additional 10 billion euro will be available through the EU's Horizon Europe research programme to support specific research and innovation in food, agriculture, rural development and the bio-economy.

Belgium has been allocated 3.8724 billion euro, out of which 3.3992 billion euro is for direct payments and 470.2 million euro is for rural development. The modernization of the CAP will also grant Member States and, in the case of Belgium, the Flemish and Walloon regions, more flexibility in how to use their funding allocations, allowing them to design tailor-made programmes that respond most effectively to farmers' and wider rural communities' concerns.