Hogan confident there will be UK-EU trade deal

The EU farm commissioner, Phil Hogan, has said he is confident an “ambitious and far-reaching” trade deal will be reached on food and agriculture between the UK and the EU-27.

Hogan was speaking at a conference in Dublin on the implications of Brexit for Ireland.

He said those in the UK advocating a hard Brexit, with no trade deal, were not supported by the general public and the business community.

He warned, however, that the UK could deal only with the EU-27 as a bloc, and that there could be no deals with individual countries.

A number of EU member states face significant losses if they cannot access the UK market without tariffs.

These include Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and France.

The EU trade commissioner also said this week that she was confident a post-Brexit trade deal would be reached.

However this would come with conditions, including free movement of people and a UK contribution to the EU budget. Alcohol and food feature on a list of products valued at more than £200 million seized as the result of a joint Europol/ Interpol investigation.

This is the latest in a series of joint investigations into food fraud, which intensified after the horse meat scandal. Most of the products seized this year were outside mainstream agricultural products.

The investigation covered the EU, other European countries and Russia.

Crimes detected included wine not from the area the labels claimed, fish and other products re-labelled when they were out of date and virgin olive oil blended from various oils.

The investigators say that despite tighter regulation since the horse meat scandal in 2013 there is still a massive level of food fraud and food adulteration.

There is also evidence that in Italy and elsewhere organised crime gangs are involved. Consultation and transparency are buzz words today, but the European Commission might be regretting a public consultation on ideas for the reform of the CAP after 2020.

It has received more than 175,000 responses to its online questionnaire.

These will now be analysed and will be included in the commission’s review of the way ahead.

Farm lobby organisations have used the consultation to press for simplification, risk management policies and support for producer organisations.

However, based on comments from Phil Hogan, their views have been dwarfed by public and pressure group demands for the CAP to do less for farmers and more for the environment and tackling climate change.

A number ofEU member states face significant losses if they cannot access the UK market without tariffs

The EU farm commissioner was speaking at a conference in Dublin on the implications of Brexit for Ireland.