The debate on the future Common Agricultural Policy for the 2014-2020 period is ongoing and is only expected to be concluded in 2013, the Rural Affairs Ministry said.
In a statement referring to an article in The Times on EU plans to cut aid to farmers, the ministry said Malta is actively engaged in securing its interests in these discussions, and will be striving to ensure that the outcome is one which ensures that Maltese farmers' activity continues to be supported.
In its proposals on CAP in the Multi-Annual Financial Framework, the Commission proposed to adjust the member state national envelopes for direct payments so that those who presently receive less than 90% of the EU average payment per hectare will receive more.
The funding would be carried out through a re-distribution exercise among member states, with some states making a gain, others a loss.
Within this context, the Commission calculated the adjustments it would need to make using the agricultural land surface area as the sole criterion.
The Commission compared the average level of direct support in member states expressed as a rate of direct support received per hectare, and proposed a reduction of seven per cent in Malta's national envelope for direct income support to be phased-in over the next programming period.
The ministry said Malta considers the seven per cent reduction of its direct support allocation (a reduction of €1.86 million out of Malta's total allocation of €37 million over 2014-2020) as unjustified and not based on objective criteria.
"The Commission's proposal for the convergence of member states' rates of direct payment per hectare does not take due account of the specificity of Malta's case, where the average size of the holding by Maltese farmers is of one hectare, and where the levels of direct support are meant to address sector-specific needs for reaching the desired production levels.
"The Commission's proposal in fact follows a one-size-fits-all approach which is based on a distorted calculation of payment entitlements in Malta.
"In this context, for the purpose of calculating the rate of direct support effectively received in respect of agricultural land in Malta, the Commission should have only considered those forms of support which are given for eligible land, namely land that is kept in good agricultural and environmental condition.
"In this case, Malta's rate of direct support per hectare would equate to €213/ha and not to €696/ha as portrayed by the Commission," the ministry said.