European Union Farm Ministers reached agreement on reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy in Brussels this morning. Farm Commissioner, Franz Fischler, had put forward a series of proposals designed to make EU products more competitive on world markets and to allow for the enlargement of the EU. However, the Commissioner had to settle for a watered-down version of his plan.
The Minister for Agriculture, Joe Walsh, claimed that the agreement was an excellent result for Ireland because a proposed reduction of £226million in EU aid had been avoided. The president of the Irish Farmers' Association, Tom Parlin, predicted that the deal would cost Irish agriculture up to £80million a year, but all of the main farming organisations praised the performance of the Irish negotiating team.
When these negotiations began 3 weeks ago, the farming organisations warned Ireland was facing annual losses of 260 million pounds. The Department of Agriculture's estimate was 226 million pounds. After an agreement was reached at 3 o'clock this morning, three of the main voices in the farm lobby, the IFA, the ICMSA and the co-op umbrella organisation ICOS, all praised the result achieved by the Irish negotiating team.
A maximum annual loss of 80 million was the verdict of IFA President, Tom Parlin. Agriculture minister, Joe Walsh took a more upbeat view, claiming that all the threatened loss had been avoided. The reason that the Minister and the lobby were content is because, to get an agreement, the EU Farm Commissioner had to settle for a watered down version of his proposed reforms.
Franz Fischler wanted to reduce price supports for the beef sector by 30 per cent. He had to settle for 20 per cent. The changes he recommended in the dairy industry will be brought in at a slower pace. The main loser in the reforms package is the cereals sector.
To cut a deal, the ministers agreed to overshoot their budget by more than a billion pounds per year, an overspend of two and a half per cent. Because of the effort required to conclude these negotiations, EU leaders are unlikely to reject the package.
