Letter from Brussels - January 2026

At the end of June, Ireland will take over the presidency of the EU. What this means is that the taoiseach and ministers will chair council meetings and drive priority areas of EU legislation. This is an opportunity to focus on the many challenges facing agriculture. The EU Strategic Agenda 2024-2029 aims to strengthen its long-term competitiveness and to improve citizens’ economic and social well-being. This includes increasing their purchasing power, creating good jobs, and assuring the quality of goods and services including a sustainable and resilient agricultural sector. Sounds good, but as we saw from the December farmer protests here in Brussels, the EU agricultural sector is not seeing action on this promise.

The announcement in July of a cut in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget from 2028 onwards is at the heart of farmer frustration and fear. At a time when the EU is aware of a generational renewal crisis on European farms, it is ironic that the message screaming out from the multiannual financial framework (MFF), which funds the CAP, is that there is no future in this business. The war in Ukraine and continuous threat from Russia to other EU Member States has understandably focussed minds in Brussels on security and defence. Throw in high energy costs, meeting climate targets, trade volatility, struggling economies in bigger Member States, and it is the perfect storm which has resulted in the CAP sliding down the EU Commission priority list. All those critical issues notwithstanding, it does not mean that farmers and co-operatives should take it lying down. ‘No farmers, no food’ may seem like a glib slogan, but how else can it be put?

When we talk about security in Europe, food security is integral. Chipping away at the budget which supports food production will only undermine it. So, Ireland has a golden opportunity to show its commitment to farming, co-operatives, food production, and food security by prioritising agriculture during its six months in the council chair.

The MFF proposal will be high up on the agenda by that stage. Supporting a fully funded ring-fenced CAP, initiating the recently published national and EU strategies on generational renewal and putting simplification into action should be foremost on the governments list of priorities. Taoiseach, it is over to you.