The devil in the detail

But buried deep within the gobbledygook is the reality. It is often said that the devil is in the detail and Brussels is very good at making their proposals look like a great deal for farmers.
Now we have another draft proposal from the European Commission, to pool the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) into simple national and regional partnership funding, to commence from the start of the next EU budgetary cycle in 2028. I love the word ‘simple’ but when has anything coming out of Brussels ever been simple? The headlines are well written, and we all know what has been put on the table. But it is yet another blow to the farmers who rely on CAP payments to survive. Certain funding for agriculture will no longer be ringfenced, with financial support diverted from farmers to other non-farming areas.

A sweetener

One little sweetener is to offer an increase from €100,000 to €300,000 to support young people to establish a new farm. But what savvy young person would ever risk landing themselves with such a huge financial millstone? In addition, as I see it, the Commission has completely abandoned the idea of food security, not only in Ireland but across Member States. If you need proof, just look at the EU/Mercosur trade agreement. Do they know that Mercosur countries are cozying up to the to the BRICS group of 10 countries led by Brazil, Russia, Iran and China. What happens if they say no to a continuation of the Mercosur agreement or change the terms? We live in such an uncertain world, but it seems lessons have not been learned, from the frequent disruption of shipping to the invasion of Ukraine and the knock-on affect this has had on the food chain.
Importing food that could be produced in Ireland, rather flies in the face of Brussels utterances on how we must save the planet, reduce our carbon footprint and make European farmers leaders in environmental protection. But we are OK to turn a blind eye to countries that have scant regard for their carbon footprint, their levels of environmental pollution or environmental damage and other costly standards set for European farmers. This makes a complete mockery of the policies coming out of Brussels.
Since 2010, Ireland has steadily increased its food and beverage imports. With the right policies and supports in place many of these imports could be produced in Ireland. I won’t even talk about the beef we import, while at the same time we are being forced to reduce the national herd.

Let’s not fall for the smoke and mirrors proposals from Brussels and see it for what it really is, another underhand attempt to reduce CAP payments to farmers. We must ‘beware of Greeks bearing gifts’ and insist our Government and MEPs vote no.