European Agricultural Guarantee Fund
The European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) consumes a large part of the general budget of the European Union. It finances direct payments to farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and measures to regulate agricultural markets such as intervention and export refunds.
The EAGF and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), which finances the rural development programmes of the Member States, were set up on 1 January 2007 following Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 of 21 June 2005 on the financing of the CAP. They both replaced the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF), which had been set up by Regulation No 25 of 1962 on the financing of the CAP (as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 728/70.
The fund is administered by the European Commission and the Member States, the Fund Committee consisting of representatives of the Member States and of the Commission.