European Union (EU) rural development measures meant to benefit the environment and farmland have been cut by about one billion euros according to a study by the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and BirdLife Europe. The study by the two NGOs found that 14 of the 19 European countries and regions analysed in the study had cut spending on environmental measures while the quality of the environmental initiatives implemented were considered “very poor” or “overstated”.
The analysis suggests that EU efforts to “green” the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) were failing, with the EU risking a further decline in species such as farmland birds. The study, New Rural Development Plans & the Environment: The Hidden Truth, questions the European Union’s claims that the newly reformed CAP would deliver more environmental benefits due to obligatory greening measures linked to subsidies and to more targeted spending under rural aid.