Agriculture Minister Joe Walsh, Taking part in today's talks
The Taoiseach is to meet the European Commission president in Brussels next week to review EU funding negotiations. Mr Ahern is also scheduled to discuss farm aid and structural funds with EU leaders in Germany on Friday.
In Brussels today,EU Farm Ministers resumed their talks on reform of the Common Agriculture Policy. The Ministers are still considering what is expected to be the first of a series of compromise offers containing changes to the European Commission's original proposals. The first compromise document contains only a few changes to the European Commission's proposals in the areas of beef and dairy reform. The Irish Agriculture Minister, Joe Walsh, has rejected the document, describing the changes as inadequate. The main Irish farming organisation, the IFA, has described the offer as "derisory", saying it involves cancelling no more than ten per cent of the proposed £260 million in farm support to Ireland.
Yesterday 30,000 farmers from across Europe marched in Brussels to protest against the price cuts proposed by the European Commission. The President of the Irish Farmers' Association, Tom Parlon, said the notion that Europe's beef industry would survive at world market prices was profoundly mistaken, and that the talks would test the real mettle of the government. He said he had told the Agriculture Minister that no deal was better than a bad deal, and that this is not about fighting for the last buck, but the survival of the family farm.
