Letter from Brussels - September 2026

On Friday June 26 last, I closed my office door after a long and busy week. The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) national council had been in town along with other Irish visitors and we had busy COPA & COGECA presidency meetings. What is notable about that day is that it’s arguably the hottest day I can ever remember, and that is coming from somebody who has been to Singapore, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia among other countries. Feeling lazy, I decided to go for something to eat only to discover that bars and restaurants had closed their outdoor dining areas and their kitchens due to the extreme heat. It was touching 38 degrees at 7pm! 

Europe has been on fire this summer and, in the claustrophobic concrete streets of Brussels throughout late June, July, and early August, it was quite unbearable at times and a stark reminder that climate change is very much part of our lives. Belgium, like Ireland, is not prepared for such heat insofar as there are few homes or apartments with air conditioning, which are commonplace in hotter countries. The EU quarter in Brussels is virtually deserted anyway during the month of August. Some of the aforementioned bars and restaurants close for two or three weeks as regular customers working in the ‘bubble’ head off on holiday. It can be quite eerie.
For the Irish presidency of the EU, it means that the six-month term is, in reality, a five-month term with little by way of meetings or events happening.

But now we are into September, and the engines of power are cranking up again. It is going to be a hectic and important few months. EU agriculture ministers are in Ireland for a three-day informal summit during which we will begin hearing more debate and discussion in earnest about the future direction of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2027. There are plenty of controversial proposals for the shape of the next CAP, not least the funding of it. That will be determined, of course, by what the overall EU budget 2027 will look like. And, at prime-ministerial level, Micheál Martin will find himself chairing critical and tense meetings of his fellow heads of government across the table from the EU Commission regarding the Multiannual Financial Framework.
As pointed out many times in this column recently, security and defence are going to be front and centre in any discussion about where EU funds will be channelled over the next eight or nine years; and this is going to eat into the CAP budget. But farmers and MEPs have not given up the ghost and are holding firm for a CAP package that is well funded with the argument being that food security is vital in any discussion about resilience and defence. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a rocky ride.