What did Poland agree to? Over 700,000 farms with no guarantee of support

One word changes the rules

LFA is help for farmers farming in difficult areas, for example due to poor soil, climate or topography. The subsidies are intended to compensate for the more difficult production conditions. So far, this has been key support for many farmers farming, for example, mountainous areas.

The RMF FM journalist found that the position of the EU Council changed the provision in Art. 8 section 1 regarding LFA payments. The European Commission's original proposal used the word "shall", meaning "must" - countries were obliged to provide such support. Ministers replaced it with the word "may", meaning "they may".

In practice, this means that Member States will be able to decide whether to provide these subsidies. They will be voluntary.

In the text published on Wednesday on the website of the EU Council, you can see the word "shall" has been changed and crossed out, replaced by "may".

"Farmers will get it or not"

Another problem is that a separate budget for rural development is to disappear in the new EU budget. The funding is to be integrated into wider national and regional partnership plans, also covering cohesion policy, fisheries, migration, border protection and internal security.

Farmers' needs will therefore compete for money with expenditure on regional development, infrastructure, migration management and border protection.

LFA has become an uncertain part of the Common Agricultural Policy. Until now, it was certain, but at the moment it is not known whether farmers will get it, says former EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to RMF FM.

As he adds, as a result, farmers will have to compete for money with other state expenses, and LFA subsidies will no longer be guaranteed support and will depend on governments' decisions. Farmers will be at the mercy of their member states, says Wojciechowski.

A similar change concerns support for small farms. The EC proposed that it be mandatory, while the UR Council wants member states to be able to, but not have to, apply it.