The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Hogan fires broadside at Brexit’s ‘high priests’ and hints at another plebiscite
Eurofile: EU Farm Commissioner believes second UK referendum on EU membership would overturn decision
The EU Farm Commissioner, Phil Hogan, pulls no punches on Brexit, particularly when he is back home in Ireland.
Speaking there, he suggested support was growing in the UK for a second referendum and he believes this would overturn the decision to leave the EU.
In controversial comments for a commissioner, he said the “tide was finally going out” on those he described as the “high priests” of Brexit, adding this was because people were beginning to realise it would not deliver pre-referendum promises.
Advocating a negotiated customs union, Hogan said he doubted this could be delivered by Theresa May because of divisions in the Conservative party.
Hogan’s controversial approach reflects the threat Brexit poses to the Irish economy, as the UK is its biggest market.
Having bumped like dodgems in a fairground, the UK and EU are again pulling apart on the future of farm support.
The EU has confirmed its commitment to cap direct payments at 100,000 euro, but Defra Secretary Michael Gove has had second thoughts. His initial plan was a similar cap, having criticised payments to large landowners, but now he wants a more gradual, across-the-board reduction, probably with smaller farmers exempted. All funds released would be targeted at environmental delivery and other public goods.
Gove said his decision followed a consultation exercise. With EU member states now at odds over the Cap reform proposals and the budget, it is beginning to look as though the UK approach might ultimately prove simpler to agree.
The European Commission has moved closer to tougher regulations on the use of antimicrobials.
Plans which are the culmination of four years’ work by officials have been agreed by the Commission and parliament and have now been backed by member states.
The new regulations will not come into force until 2022, after the UK Brexit transition.
They set the justification bar higher for using antimicrobials, with use limited to animals that are sick or likely to get sick. Their use for growth promotion will be outlawed and there will be restrictions on all prophylactic use.
The Commission will insist countries exporting to the EU match this standard.
The European Commission has agreed a 100 billion euro budget for research and innovation from 2021 to 2027.
Of this, 10 billion euro will go to agriculture and rural development. Both are significant increases on the current Horizon 2020 programme.
This reflects a belief in Brussels that research drives economic growth.
In the past the UK has played a major role in these programmes, both in agriculture and beyond. However, under EU rules funds are only available to member states and those in a customs union arrangement with the EU.
The UK has said it does not want to be in a customs union so if it wants to continue an involvement in research it will have to reach a special deal with Brussels.