The European Council agreement on the Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) provides a total of €2.19bn or some €313m for Ireland per year under Pillar 2 of the CAP for the period 2014 - 2020. This includes a special allocation of €100 million, over the full period, negotiated in the final stages of the talks. Measures which may be funded must address the three rural development objectives and the six priorities laid down in the proposal.
The MFF provides for flexibility regarding the co-financing rates for Pillar 2 support measures and a number of different rates have been incorporated into the proposal. A general co-financing rate of 53% is proposed but this rate may rise to a maximum of 80% for measures such as farm and business development, co-operation activities, Leader projects, and other measures. Environmental type measures may be co-funded up to 75%. The exchequer funding percentage that will be required to draw down the available EU funding will depend firstly on the types of measures that will be included in the Programme and secondly on the co-financing rate that is agreed with the EU Commission for these measures.
As regards the minimum spend for certain measures, the proposal provides that at least 5% EAFRD funding must be reserved for Leader while the Common Provisions Regulation provides that 7% of EAFRD funding must be allocated under a national performance reserve. In addition a recital to the rural development regulation proposes that 25% of the total EAFRD amount be reserved for diverse environmental operations and climate change mitigation and adaptation measures.
