Little heed paid to Brexit views on the continent

While most UK farmers will be aware that the country’s farming unions jointly declared themselves in favour of the proposed EU withdrawal deal which points towards a freetrade area and a common rulebook for agri-food goods, there has been little focus on the opinions of producers on the continent.

But European farming groups have also thrown their weight behind the deal – and yesterday urged politicians on both sides of the English Channel to reach a swift conclusion on the withdrawal process, to avoid any “no deal” outcome as a priority and “provide predictability to millions of european farmers ”.

With trade in agri-food being very much a two way street – with an estimated 60 per centof UK agri-food exports going to the EU, while between 70 per centand 99 per centof all such imports into the UK come from the EU 27 – COPA, the umbrella group representing European farming unions warned that a “no deal” would be catastrophic for the sector in both the UK and Europe.

They added that the proposed period of transition would help eliminate certain risk of trade disruption and additional costs:

“This period is fundamental to allow us to prepare ahead of time for any potential changes to customs arrangements being introduced,” said COPA president and German farmer, Joachim Rukweid, speaking after a meeting in Brussels.

He said that during the transition there should be no customs procedures, no sanitary or phytosanitary inspections, nor should there be any additional bureaucracy as the UK would continue to abide by existing EU regulations governing food production.

There was also a welcome that the stock of existing of Eu-approved geographical indications would be legally protected by the withdrawal agreement.

“There is still work to do and uncertainty in the negotiations on the future of the relationship between the EU and the UK, but we should welcome this first outcome and the commitment of negotiators and governments on all sides,” said Rukwied.

And while Irish farmers had a particular interest in the latter point, Irish Farmers Association president Joe Healy said that although Irish farmer viewed Brexit as a backwards step, it was critically important to have a deal which allowed an orderly withdrawal:

“IFA regards Brexit as a retrograde step for Europe and for Britain and the fact that it has taken two and a half years since the June 2016 referendum to hammer out the withdrawal deal demonstrates that there are no easy solutions,” said Healey, speaking from Brussels.