THE NFUS has told the Scottish Office it wants 11 million euros of Scotland’s ‘lost’ convergence uplift paid upfront, until a review of the UK’s CAP allocation has been carried out.
The announcement from the farming union follows a “crucial” meeting between NFUS president Nigel Miller and Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael at its Ingliston headquarters.
The meeting hit the top of Mr Miller’s agenda after the UK Government was accused of “pocketing” more than £190 million in financial support from Scotland’s farmers and crofters.
Under the new CAP arrangements, which start in 2015, Scottish farmers are expected to receive support levels per hectare amongst the lowest of not only the UK, but much of the EU.
While Scottish leaders wanted to use EU funds to redress the balance, the UK Government announced the four UK regions will receive the same proportion of the 27.6 billion euro CAP budget over the next seven years as they currently receive.
After his meeting with Mr Carmichael, Mr Miller said: “After the deeply disappointing announcement on Friday, we secured this early meeting to underline the importance of moving the convergence process on.
“That is a process that must see money flow into Scotland if we are to meet EU objectives on convergence.”
Giving the use of the CAP allocations as a pawn for the independence debate the body swerve, NFUS said it wants support money upfront to “provide a stable platform” for its producers.
It calculated the initial convergence allocation in 2015 would have been worth 11m euros and said this money should reach Scotland so that its farmers can compete with their European counterparts on an even playing field.
“This decision greatly impacts on our members, and we need to fully address the competitive disadvantage that Scottish producers are facing,” said Mr Miller.
“The announcement of the review process means that, for the first time, the issue of convergence is being taken seriously.”
However, Mr Miller stressed the review process must be robust.
“It must be made transparent, have an independent review group to determine budget allocations and have a fixed end date for when the transition will be completed,” he said.
“We estimate the initial convergence allocation in 2015 would have been worth 11m euros and could rise to 60m euros by 2019.
“We have laid down a marker stating that until the review is complete, there should be an advanced budget transfer of 11m euros to Scotland to provide a stable platform for our producers.
“This is the convergence money the UK Government will receive in 2015,” Mr Miller said.
Adding that NFUS recognises the real starting gun for convergence in Scotland will come when it begins a transition to area payments, he said: “We need to ensure we know how the convergence is going to work before the process is started with a deadline in place.
“Once it has started, a clear commitment to the process must be mapped out by Defra.”
It is understood the union also intends to make an approach to the EU for clarity over the current situation.
Meanwhile, Scotland’s crofters have also damned the allocation as an “injustice”.
Joining their voice to the widespread calls that the CAP uplift “rightfully belongs in Scotland”, the Scottish Crofting Federation has dubbed the UK Government’s decision a “political heist”.
“We just want what is rightfully ours,” commented Norman Leask, the SCF’s parliamentary spokesman.
“The only reason that the UK qualifies for the uplift is because of Scotland’s very low payments in the upland areas that bring the UK average down,”
“This decision by the UK Government can surely only be seen as a political heist.”
Mr Leask said, as far as the SCF is concerned, there is simply no argument that can justify keeping the cash, which is intended to bring average payments up to somewhere closer to the European average, in UK areas that are already at that level or above.
“The Scottish upland areas have ‘earned’ this uplift and this is where it should be spent,” he said.