The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Irish farmers hail UK delay over controls
The Irish farming lobby has welcomed confirmation from the UK that no controls will be imposed on imports from the EU-27 until at least October 1.
This represents a six-month delay and is down to UK administrative problems in putting customs systems in place. This is being blamed on Covid, but is largely down to a lack of preparation.
The Irish Farmers Association (IFA) says this will ease the burden of a 10-fold rise in veterinary certificates being sought for exports to the UK. The IFA says it will also deliver stability for meat and dairy sectors, giving them time to align with UK regulations.
There has been no reciprocal EU response. It will continue implementing controls on the UK as a third country.
The EU says it has successfully agreed with the US, via the World Trade Organisation, to readjust agricultural trade quotas to reflect the UK leaving the EU. This will allocate tarifffree or tariff-reduced access to the US, with similar arrangements for American exports to the EU.
The new agreement was based on recent trade flows and the EU says it reflects the importance of the EU and US as mutual trading partners. Products include beef, poultry, dairy products and wine. Similar negotiations are now under way with a number of other countries to detach the UK from EU agreements including Argentina, Australia and Norway.
The decision coincided with a thawing in relations between Brussels and Washington. The US has hinted its economic focus will be on the EU rather than the UK, on grounds of market size and potential.
EU farmers are losing the battle over red meat and its impact on health and climate change.
They have seen a switch of resources away from meat promotion and pressure against red meat in particular in the new Green Deal-driven CAP.
They and many MEPs have criticised this and the unrealistic focus on organics, which is less than 7% of EU agriculture.
European Livestock Voice, an industry grouping with limited resources against larger lobby groups, is hitting back. It has accused the EU of seeking to undermine a key sector of European agriculture. It wants politicians to read, and farmers to use info on its meatthefacts.eu website to counter criticism.