The Baby Beef association said on Monday that the European Union's new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2021-2027 period could ruin Croatia's cattle breeding industry, and has called on the government and the Agriculture Ministry to take a firm negotiating position against the proposed cuts in grants.

“This new CAP will be the death of the already devastated cattle farming in Croatia”, the association said in a statement signed by its head, Darko Celovec.

Baby Beef association, founded in 2000 by some 20 big beef producers across Croatia, today counts over 300 members who account for some 90 percent of all beef production in the country.

Celovec said that Croatia was the last to join the EU and had drawn the least funding, while other countries had used the funds absorbed over several programme periods to increase their competitiveness on the market.

“Now that we have started to use grants, they want to reduce them, and we have only just begun to recover,” he said.
According to the statement, the EU’s financial framework for the next seven year period proposes a 5 percent cut in CAP funding.

Although there has been no official confirmation of this, under the new proposal Croatia could end up with four percent less money for funding direct payments and as much as 15 percent less for rural development measures.

The direct funds for Croatia would be reduced from the present €382.6 million to €367.7 million, while funding for rural development would be cut from the present €332.16 million to €281.3 million.

“All recent experiences have shown that Croatia doesn’t have qualified and quality negotiators on par with the EU. So we appeal to the government, the (Agriculture) Ministry, and the negotiators to finally stop being disorganised, and to stand up for our rights, otherwise there will be no agriculture in Croatia in the future,” Celovec said.

The association said it supports all Croatian institutions which in recent days have sent out a clear message that the European Commission should take into account the fact that Croatia is among economically underdeveloped areas and that the proposed reduction of the direct payments and rural development funding would have a direct impact on diminishing the competitiveness of its agricultural production.

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