Von der Leyen proposes ‘single fund’ for CAP and Cohesion; farmers protest

Brussels – National and regional partnerships for investment and reform, a Competitiveness Fund, and a Global Europe strategy are the pillars on which the European Commission is building the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034. This structure emerges from a document prepared by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin, intended to guide discussions among commissioners. It reflects the European executive’s intention to merge several EU programs — including the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Cohesion Policy — into a single fund for national and regional partnerships for Investment and Reform.

“Our current budget was designed for a world that no longer exists — the world of 2020,” said Ursula von der Leyen today during her 2025 EU Budget Annual Conference speech. The next budget, she emphasized, “must be less rigid” and “deliver where it matters: fast, efficiently, and with impact.” In particular, “we need greater coherence in funding our priorities” because “today, we dilute our spending power across too many instruments. And we do not coordinate enough between the European, the national and regional levels, the private sector and the other institutions,” she stated. The agricultural sector did not welcome this streamlining project, which aims to consolidate budget chapters. Farmers returned to the streets today in the “first pan-European mobilization in support of a CAP budget that is increased and adjusted for inflation, in response to growing concerns over the idea of a single fund.” Organized jointly by FWA, Boerenbond, and Copa-Cogeca in Brussels — coinciding with the European Commission’s budget conference — the protest raised the alarm that “EU agriculture and food security risk collapsing like a house of cards without clarity on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget.”

In the internal document, von der Leyen and Serafin specify that “the current long-term budget includes a series of funds pre-allocated to the Member States in areas such as cohesion policy, agriculture, climate, fisheries, and home affairs, which require national/regional programming.” In addition, “any change or new objective requires legal amendments,” something that “makes these funds rigid” and “adds complexity.” Therefore, “bringing together the actions financed by these funds under national and regional partnerships for investment and reform, aligned with the EU’s political objectives and priorities, would create efficiencies for beneficiaries, reduce overlaps, and significantly increase flexibility — and therefore the impact of our budget,” they write.

The President, however, knows she must reassure the agricultural sector, which is resistant to merging programs. In her speech, she made a point to say “very clearly” that “In our next Budget, there will be a central place for Cohesion Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy. Modernized and better adapted to today’s challenges.” Words that, for now, do not seem to bridge the gap. “The budget issue is far from a technical matter; it is a fundamental political priority determining the ambition and overall coherence of European agricultural policies. Without it, the entire structure could collapse like a house of cards,” said Copa President Massimiliano Giansanti during the protest. “For this reason, we cannot accept the dissolution of the CAP into a single fund or any attempt at further re-nationalization, nor a rushed proposal for the next CAP presented in July alongside the post-2027 MFF, without clarity on available resources, governance, or adequate consultation with the sector,” he stressed. And today’s protest did not go unnoticed in Brussels: in an official statement, Copa-Cogeca noted that “many Members of the European Parliament” came out “to express their support for the flash action” and that, on the sidelines, “a meeting was held between the leadership of Copa and Cogeca and Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin,” who “showed willingness to listen and engage in deeper dialogue with representatives of European farmers and agricultural cooperatives,” and “reassured them of his commitment to prioritizing food security and maintaining support for the sector through the Common Agricultural Policy.”

In general, with the new MFF, Brussels aims for “a better balance between predictability and flexibility in investments,” even considering changes to the duration of the framework. “Maintaining a seven-year horizon would be conceivable, in the current context of change, only if significantly greater flexibility could be achieved within the financial framework and its programs.” In addition to merging programs such as Cohesion and the CAP into national and regional partnerships, the Commission also aims to consolidate “the numerous programs that successfully contribute to competitiveness”—such as Horizon Europe, the Digital Europe Programme, the Innovation Fund, the European Defence Fund, and the EU Space Programme—into a true “European Competitiveness Fund,” providing coherent support across the entire investment journey, from research to scale-up to industrial deployment and production. As for Global Europe, the Commission envisions the creation of a “Global Europe Fund” that “will allow for tailored responses to each region and partner country, creating comprehensive partnership packages for each geographic area.” These packages will “strengthen the link between external action and internal priorities, such as energy security, the supply of critical raw materials, climate action, connectivity, migration, and defense.” They will also apply to candidate countries “to accelerate their accession.”

Finally, beyond the structure itself, there is one fixed point for the President: the need for “new sources of financing” in the next multiannual budget. “We must finance new priorities, and we must start repaying the loans raised for NextGenerationEU. It is clear that national budgets alone cannot bear the brunt of it. So we need new own resources. We already have a package of proposals on the table today. We are also working on additional proposals. It will be a difficult discussion as there is no silver bullet. But the budget equation is daunting. It is high time we find a solution,” she concluded.