It’s rare to see such a unanimous and passionate backlash against a policy coming out of the EU Commission as what happened on Wednesday night, after von der Leyen presented her long-awaited budget reform proposal.
It’s long been suspected that agriculture would be the most controversial aspect of the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), but hardly anyone saw how all political groups in the EU parliament—from Left to Right, from the conservative opposition to the mainstream ‘Ursula coalition’—would unite against the Commission and its apparent plan to throw farmers under the bus.
While opening the debate in the EU Parliament’s AGRI committee on Wednesday, Agriculture and Food Commissioner Christophe Hansen desperately tried his best to paint a positive picture of the planned reforms. Yes, it’s true that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be merged with cohesion and other funding mechanisms, but farming subsidies will remain a separate, protected line within the new superfund, and will be allocated €302 billion, Hansen said with the exaggerated enthusiasm of a bad salesman.
Behind his fake smile, Hansen knew that every MEP in the room was perfectly aware that this figure is 21.8%—or a whopping €84 billion—less than the current budget of just the first pillar, while the second pillar (rural development) doesn’t even get a dedicated item in the new MFF, leaving the member states to decide if they even want to invest in it.
“Maybe I don’t understand you correctly … You’re doubling the MFF to €2 trillion, but we’re getting a 25% cut to the CAP?” asked Herbert Dorfmann, the keynote speaker of von der Leyen’s own EPP, which rarely questions anything that the Commission chief does. “Don’t try to sell that to us as a success story … The math doesn’t add up.”
The rest of the mainstream parties, including the social democrat S&D, the liberal Renew, and the Greens, were all similarly outraged by the proposal, slamming Hansen for every detail, from the planned cuts and dilution of the funds to undermining Europe’s food security and ‘lying’ to them for weeks that this would not happen.
Of course, those in opposition to the ‘Ursula coalition’ were a lot more outspoken, including not only the three conservative groups—Patriots, ECR, and ESN—but also The Left, which represents the other end of the parliamentary spectrum. The Left’s designated speaker, Irish MEP Luke Flanagan, also took the opportunity to point out the establishment’s hypocrisy when it comes to criticizing the von der Leyen Commission.
“You voted for this Commission. If you’re not happy with it, put down a motion of censure and I’ll support it,” Flanagan told Dorfmann, referencing last week’s no-confidence vote, in which The Left joined the conservatives against von der Leyen and her four-party coalition.
“I’ll say it again: if you’re not happy with the Commission, it’s a democratic place here, I’ll support getting rid of them,” the MEP repeated. “Either do that, or stop complaining about something you supported.”
Flanagan added that he was happy to see everyone being so “passionately” opposed to the CAP reforms, but he saw that before with regards to the Mercosur trade agreement, and the mainstream parties have all changed sides since. “I hope you keep your passion on this,” he said.
Of course, there was no mercy on the conservative side either. ESN’s Arno Bausemer, for instance, followed up on Flanagan’s comment by saying that one million European farmers—who already face immense pressure due to rising costs of the green transition —would gladly join that no-confidence vote against von der Leyen as well.
“The 16th of July, 2025, will be a date inked in black in the European calendar; the day when the EU demonstrated that farmers are no longer a priority for us,” said French MEP Gilles Pennelle (PfE), calling the budget cut an “absolute disaster” for the farmers. “Face up to it: you’re not listening to farmers, you’re not listening to the Parliament. Let me be clear: you are setting our countrysides on fire,” he added.
Hungary’s Csaba Dömötör, also from the Patriots, reminded Hansen that he’s been asking him for months if the rumors about the budget cuts were true, and now he knows why the commissioner always dodged the question.
“Why is this happening? Because the Commission wants to free up financial space for other programs: war policies, forced enlargement, or for repaying miscalculated post-COVID loans,” said Dömötör. “Plus, von der Leyen said that the current budget was designed for ‘a world that no longer exists.’ Maybe you should tell her that nobody can talk about the world of farmers like that.”
French MEP Valerie Deloge (PfE)was short and to the point. “The von der Leyen Commission has gotten us used to betrayal, but this goes above anything we’ve seen before,” she said. “Best of luck continuing to pretend that you support European farmers after you stabbed them in the back.”
Indeed, after this proposal, the tractor blockades and chaotic scenes from Brussels are bound to repeat during the next two years, while the budget negotiations are ongoing. That could also be why the mainstream parties did not dare to publicly support von der Leyen’s reforms; the picture of Place Luxembourg on fire just outside their windows was etched into their memory.
Over 6,400 farmers’ organizations have mobilized against budget cuts already in the form of an unprecedented online petition, and many of them also appeared in a last-ditch effort outside the Commission on Wednesday to protest the plans. The demonstration was nowhere near as big as what we saw last winter, but that’s because it’s harvest season; once they have the time and equipment at hand, the tractors will definitely return.
