Source: European Parliament
EU support remains essential for the development of Réunion’s agriculture.
The selection of supported projects under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) falls under the remit of the local managing authority, hence the Commission cannot reinforce EAFRD support for irrigation projects. Réunion support will continue through the French Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan[1].
Within the framework of the 2023-2027 programming period, European funds such as the CAP Strategic Plan and the Recovery and Resilience Plan, continue to provide support for the implementation of the various agricultural projects including those relating to irrigation networks in the coming years.
Moreover, the Mid-Term review of the Cohesion Policy[2], as per the political agreement reached between the co-legislators, offers a package of measures to encourage Members States to invest in water resilience.
New dedicated priorities established for that objective will benefit from an additional one-off pre-financing of 20% of the amounts programmed and the possibility of a top-up of 10% of the EU co-financing rate.
Finally, the Commission presented its proposal for a post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework on 16 July 2025. As outlined in the Water Resilience Strategy, the next Multi-annual Financial Framework is an opportunity to further support water resilience through investment and reforms.
In the context of the national and regional partnership plans, and according to Chapter VI (Articles 46-48) of the proposal[3], Member States could address areas such as improved governance, risk assessment and disaster preparedness, increased water efficiency and reuse, prioritised demand reduction and enhanced controls.
- [1] https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/cap-my-country/cap-strategic-plans/france_fr.
- [2] Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, ‘A modernised Cohesion policy: The mid-term review,’ COM(2025) 163, 1 April 2025: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/communication/mid-term-review-2025/communication-mid-term-review-2025_en.pdf.
- [3] COM(2025) 565 final, Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Fund for economic, social and territorial cohesion, agriculture and rural, fisheries and maritime, prosperity and security for the period 2028-2034 and amending Regulation (EU) 2023/955 and Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509.