As Ireland assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union today, IFA President Francie Gorman has stated that the success of the Irish presidency for farmers and rural Ireland will require a substantial increase in the Common Agricultural Policy budget.
“The Commission proposal from this time last year remains entirely inadequate for the needs of the sector, and the decision to cut the budget by 24% doesn’t recognise the pivotal work farmers do daily for food security, the environment and for rural areas more broadly,” Francie Gorman said.
IFA has consistently communicated its opposition to this budget structure at every opportunity, at home and in Brussels and has participated in multiple protests in Brussels and Luxembourg organised through the European farmers organisation, COPA, of which Francie Gorman is a vice-president.
“IFA’s National Council returned from Brussels last week where we met with representatives from all European institutions including Irish MEPs and Commissioners Michael McGrath and Oliver Varhelyi. Our message was simple – the budget proposal on the table for CAP remains too low for the requirements of the sector,” Francie Gorman said.
“It will decimate already vulnerable farm families and rural areas; constrain environmental endeavours and amplify the generational renewal challenges and exodus of small-scale family farms continually endured here and across Europe,” he added.
“It’s sending the complete wrong message to EU and Irish farmers. The Commission cannot continually herald EU agriculture as a strategically important asset yet decimate CAP and the financial security it brings for current and future farmers. It’s nothing short of hypocrisy,” Francie Gorman said.
“Our Government must prove it has farmers’ backs and negotiate a budget which meets the needs of the sector and a CAP regulation which is independent and governed by the Agriculture Ministers of Europe as has always been the case.”
“Both the budget and the CAP regulation negotiations to date have not resolved vital issues; the Irish presidency must address these for the future of European and Irish farming,” the IFA President said.
