Spain to ensure farming subsidies amid tight budget

The EU's Spanish presidency Monday (Jan 18) threw its weight behind a fight to ensure that farming subsidies remain central to bloc politics amid budgetary concerns.

Spanish agriculture minister Elena Espinosa said Spain wants to retain a "strong Common Agricultural Policy" on the grounds that longstanding agreements to subsidise farm output "represent undeniable added value" for the EU.

The CAP accounts for 40% of the EU's annual budget - EUR56 billion (US$80 billion), whereas the European Commission wants to shrink the payouts when the policy is renegotiated in 2013.

Europe faces pressure in world trade negotiations to reduce subsidies for the sake of poor farmers in the developing world, but incoming farm commissioner, Romania's Dacian Ciolos, has also vowed to "militate" in defense of high subsidies.

The UK leads a small rump of nations opposed to the costly spending propping up the sector.

On fishing, Espinosa said durability of stocks had to be married to "a level of income worthy of the job," and that Spain would adopt "a new (policy) outlook" taking into account "social, economic, environmental and ecosystemic" considerations.