Parliament adopted a non-binding report on support schemes for farmers (support for cotton) which calls for a deeper revision of the aid system introduced in 2004 so as to allow more flexibility to Member States. MEPs say that policies to forecast, mitigate and combat the effects of climate change on cotton-producing regions may be funded under the national support programmes.

Cotton growing represents only 0.15% of EU agriculture production but is very important at economic, social and environmental levels in EU Southern countries and should therefore be preserved according to MEPs. After the 2004 reform was annulled by the European Court of Justice at the request of Spain, the Commission has tabled a new proposal based on the same lines.
 
Internationally, the EU is a minor player on the world cotton market, contributing only about 2% to the world’s total production of cotton. The main producing countries are China, the USA and India. The cotton sector, despite being of limited significance to the EU as a whole (contributing only 0.15% of the final agricultural output) has strong regional importance in the two main producing Member States namely Greece and Spain. Around 76% of the EU’s total output is grown in Greece. A small amount of cotton is also grown in Bulgaria. Most farmers growing cotton are small in size (Greece 4.5 ha and Spain 11.0 ha). In Greece there are 79,700 farmers growing cotton and in Spain 9,500.