Farm groups have been urged by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to stop jumping to conclusions about the negotiations on the Common Agriculture Policy and to acknowledge that major progress has been made.
Mr Coveney said the Council of Ministers’ meeting on Monday was “a fantastic success” for Ireland because the council had endorsed the approach Ireland had been advocating for more than a year.
The European Commission wants to introduce a flat payment for all farmers, regardless of what they produce but Irish farm groups believe this would have a very negative effect on the most productive farmers while rewarding those who do very little.
As a result of Monday’s meeting, Mr Coveney said there was “now for the first time an agreement that actually that isn’t an appropriate model for everybody and that we need to allow for a derogation from that model for countries that want that, like Ireland.” He said he also got other flexibilities endorsed. “Everything we looked for on Monday we got.”
The Irish Farmers’ Association has called an emergency meeting of its national council on Sunday to highlight its concerns about the negotiations.
