Romanian President and Italian Prime Minister rally 17 EU states to keep agriculture at the heart of the EU budget
President Nicuşor Dan and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni say they have secured the backing of 17 EU members to prioritize agriculture and cohesion in the next EU budget cycle.
Nicuşor Dan, President of Romania, reported that he and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni succeeded in uniting 17 EU member states belonging to the “Friends of Cohesion” group to keep agriculture and cohesion at the forefront of the next EU budget. The coalition plans to preserve the total financing for both the Common Agricultural Policy and the Cohesion Policy as part of the forthcoming Multi-annual Financial Framework.
In addition, they have addressed a joint letter to Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, requesting that additional funds be earmarked for high-priority sectors such as security, defence, competitiveness, connectivity, energy security and resilience. The leaders also expressed willingness to explore new own-resource mechanisms that could alleviate the fiscal burden on individual member states. This coordinated effort reflects a broader push to secure stable agricultural support while balancing other strategic EU priorities.
Why it matters
Ensuring agriculture remains a budget priority affects food security and rural economies across the EU.
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