On 7 February, round two of the EU Budget negotiations begins. For those of you that have not been following this saga, 27 Heads of State need to agree how to spend about a trillion Euros over the 2014-2020. Their meeting next week is the latest attempt to thrash out a deal. The last time they met, the bits of the Budget that offer the best value for taxpayers money and supported the environment, seemed to be most at risk of being traded away.
Our major concern remains the fate of funding which supports wildlife-friendly farming (the so-called Pillar II of the Common Agriculture Policy). This provides a lifeline for species such as turtle dove and cirl bunting as well as supporting farmers to deliver environmental public goods which the market doesn’t reward.
We've produced this short video to explain the significance of the Budget:
We hope that it inspires people to contact the Prime Minister and give him a clear message to agree a Budget that works for wildlife.
Peter - sorry you don't like it. I'd simply offer three thoughts: a) Ciolos set the agenda by seeking to legitimise Pillar I payments through greening. This actually was a step away from trend of previous reforms which had moved emphasis towards Pillar II b) much of our CAP lobbying obviously is done through Birdlife International although our capacity to influence key countries like France is limited c) in the UK we have a government which (like the previous one) is publicly and consistently opposed to Pillar I. The domestic argument is all about trying to get the Prime Minister to ensure Pillar II is negotiated away in the dead of night (Sooty's point). Getting public profile on points of detail on the EU Budget is nigh on impossible in the UK. Believe me, we have tried. Which is why we need to engage people who are not aware of the intricacies of the debate. Hence the video.