Bulgaria and 16 EU states demand protection for agricultural and cohesion funds

Bulgaria and 16 other European Union member states have issued a joint letter calling for the preservation of funding for the Common Agricultural Policy and Cohesion Policy in the EU's 2028–2034 long-term budget.

The initiative, coordinated by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, was addressed to Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who holds the current presidency of the Council of the EU. The signatories include Italy, Romania, Cyprus, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Spain.

The group argues that while the EU faces new priorities such as security, defense, competitiveness, and energy security, these should be funded through additional resources rather than by diverting money from agriculture and regional development. They warn that the European Commission's current proposal already implies a reduction in the real value of these funds, and further cuts could weaken the single market, food security, and public support for the European project.