Farmers call for Taoiseach to prevent CAP budget cut that will cost them €1bn
THE Taoiseach needs to get involved in order to prevent cuts to the CAP budget which could cost farmers up to €1bn, farm organisations have urged.
This follows EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan’s CAP reform policy announcements yesterday, which reiterated the 5pc cut in direct payments to farmers revealed last month.
The limit on farm supports will be set at €100,000 – which is higher than the €60,000 previously mooted, in a win for larger farms. However, member states can choose what national cap they want on EU farm supports, with a €60,000 to €100,000 limit proposed.
But the ov erall size of the CAP budget in the face of budgetary pressures at European level – including the impact of Brexit – is the main bone of contention for farmers.
Farm organisations have insisted that the 5pc cut to direct payments must be rejected, with the IFA claiming that it could cost farmers up €1bn and insisting that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar needs to get involved in order to maintain the current CAP budget.
“The fundamental issue for farmers is the size of the CAP budget. It is completely unacceptable that any cut is being contemplated when farmers are already struggling on low incomes and are being asked to do more under CAP proposals,” said IFA president Joe Healy.
“Taoiseach Leo Varadkar must make it clear at EU heads of state level that the recent Commission proposals on the CAP budget are a non-runner. The proposals are unfair and unacceptable and must be rejected.
“All sectors have shared in the economic revival, yet farmers have had their direct payments eroded by inflation. At the very least, farmers need a CAP increase in line with inflation.”
ICSA chair Patrick Kent said that the €100,000 CAP would only provide a farmer with the price of a tractor, and more needs to be done to target vulnerable areas of farming such as cattle and sheep.
“€100,000 is only the price of a tractor and it’s not going to get anyone really engaged. There is a 5pc reduction and it’s hard to be positive when there is an income decline and farmers are at an all-time low as a result of Brexit and a long winter. We need to focus on getting funds geared towards livestock and other vulnerable sectors,” he said.
ICMSA president Pat McCormack added that farmers were no wiser after this announcement about what it would mean to them individually.
“Farmers had been promised simplification before but it has never materialised and the signs for rules and regulations around this CAP are not promising,” he said.
The UK leaving the EU has left a €12bn deficit in the EU budget.
Independent MEP Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan claimed the reduction in the CAP budget was a result of the EU’s budget moving away from a “Common Agriculture Policy to a common defence policy”.
Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said the commission’s proposals “will require a period of consultation and consideration with all stakeholders in the coming period”. This follows his meeting with a number of EU agriculture ministers in Madrid on Thursday where they signed a memorandum requesting that the CAP budget be maintained at current levels.