IFA to fight planned changes to the CAP

The Irish Farmers' Association says it will fight "tooth and nail" against proposed changes to the EU agricultural policies that would see massive reductions in supports to Irish farmers.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mr Franz Fischler will propose major changes to the Common Agriculture Policy in a mid-term review of the policy to be published next month, according to well-placed leaks emanating from Brussels.

The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, raised his concerns about the new proposals with Mr Fischler at a meeting of EU agriculture ministers on Wednesday. The Government is opposed to any major reform of the CAP.

Mr Fischler is expected to call for the decoupling of EU payments from production. Instead of being paid for every animal they keep or acres they harvest, farmers would receive an area-based payment. This would be made conditional on good environmental and safety standards.

Farmers' groups here believe this measure would be particularly damaging to the beef sector. "A change to an area-based payment system would inevitably mean a major reduction in the total beef premiums paid to Ireland. Also, more intensive, commercial beef producers would lose most under a hectare payment system," said IFA president Mr John Dillon.

Subsidies to larger farms would also be capped, although this would have little effect on Irish agriculture as most farms here are relatively small.

According to the London Times, Mr Fischler says in a draft strategy paper that the CAP is "no longer acceptable or sustainable".

But the IFA believes agreement was reached two years ago on the form of the CAP until 2006, and it wants this honoured. It accepts the need for next month's review to "tweak" the system, but claims that what Mr Fischler is proposing is a "root-and-branch reform".

"We though we had seen this kind of proposal off in 2000. We fought them tooth and nail then, and we'll do it again," a spokesman said yesterday. He called on the Government to take a strong stance against Mr Fischler's proposals.

However, Mr Fischler is anxious to reform the CAP before the expected accession to the EU of 10 new countries in 2004. This would increase the number of farmers in the EU by half and the area under production by one-third. As well as increasing the farm budget, it would, Mr Fischler believes, make it even more difficult to make changes in the system of direct supports to farmers.

The Commissioner's proposals will be published on July 10th and discussed by EU agriculture ministers three days later. Although Mr Fischler hopes to conclude discussions by the end of the year, it is likely they will take longer.

Under the CAP, direct payments account for around 80 percent of the agricultural budget, which in turn comprises half of the total EU budget.