Brendan Smith calls for maintaining CAP funding after proposed 5% cut
Brendan Smith spoke against the European Commission's proposal to reduce the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget by about 5% after 2020 and said the cut would be unsustainable for Irish farming. He argued that, when modest inflation is taken into account, the proposed reduction would equate to roughly a 15% real cut over seven years and urged that CAP funding be maintained.
European Commission proposal
Brendan Smith outlined the Commission's proposal as part of the multi-annual financial framework 2021-2027, noting an approximate 5% cut to the CAP budget post-2020. He described that level of reduction as unacceptable for Ireland and repeatedly called for the CAP budget to be maintained at current levels.
Projected impact on farming and rural economy
He warned that even low inflation would amplify the effect of the proposed cut to about 15% over seven years. Smith emphasised that cap payments are the backbone of Irish farming, vital to farm families, the rural economy and the wider national economy, and said further demands on farmers must be matched by adequate resources.
Diplomatic efforts and meetings
Smith set out his diplomatic work on the issue, including participation in EU Agricultural Council meetings, a joint memorandum agreed in Madrid in May 2018, and bilateral meetings with ministerial counterparts and with Commissioner Hogan. He noted joining 16 other ministerial counterparts to reiterate calls to maintain current CAP funding and referred to discussions at an informal council in Helsinki on climate-related CAP measures.
Rollover and timeline for decisions
He asked about urgency on finalising the multi-annual financial framework (MFF) and the CAP budget, noting the possibility of a 12-month rollover of the existing CAP and the need for delegated acts to allow timely payment systems. Smith pressed for clarity on the likely timescale for completion and prioritisation of the funding decisions.
Government funding stance and public expectations
Smith said the Taoiseach and Government had clearly stated a willingness to support EU funding priorities, including the CAP, and underlined that asking farmers to ‘‘do more and more for less and less’’ is not acceptable. He warned against public pressure that demands ever higher standards without providing matching resources to farmers.
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Thank you very much for hearing. Minister, as we all know, cap payments are the backbone of Irish farming. Not alone are they important for the farming community, but they're very important for the rural economy and indeed the overall national economy. Farm families are very concerned about the present proposal to reduce the cap budget post-2020 by 5%. As we know, if we factor in inflation, even a low level of inflation, that would equate to a 15% reduction. over a seven-year period. That's not sustainable. I have to say that the Irish agriculture community are very concerned with any such proposed reduction in an essential income support for this sector. The European Commission has proposed, as part of the multi-annual financial framework 2021-2027, an approximate cut of 5% to the cap budget post-2020. The proposed cut is unacceptable for Ireland and I have used every opportunity in the course of discussions on the CAP post-2020 at EU Agricultural Council meetings to call for the cap budget to be maintained. Most recently, and indeed only yesterday, I joined 16 other ministerial counterparts in reiterating the call we made in mid-2018 for the post-2020 cap budget to be maintained at current levels. I do acknowledge that for many that level of ambition wasn't overwhelming, but it did reflect the reality that there wasn't support for increasing the budget, but merely for maintaining it at current levels. In addition, at the informal council in Helsinki at the end of September, during a discussion on potential cap measures to support carbon sequestration, I made the point that higher levels of climate ambition have to be matched by a strong cap budget post-2020. We cannot keep asking our farmers to do more and more for less money in return. These follow other calls that I have made at previous council meetings for an adequate cap budget to meet the increasing demands being placed on Irish and indeed European farmers. I have held a large number of bilateral meetings with my ministerial counterparts on this issue and participated in joint initiatives with other member states, such as the joint memorandum agreed in Madrid in May 2018. I have also discussed the matter on a number of occasions with Commissioner Hogan. These efforts will continue as the negotiations on the post-2020 CAP and on the future budget intensify over the coming months. Thank you, Minister. I welcome the fact that you have repeated that the present proposals are unacceptable. I sincerely hope that the other 15 or 16 member states that are of a like mind, that not alone are their agriculture and farming ministers of that view, but hopefully their heads of government or heads of state are of the same opinion. Perhaps you would let us know the Taoiseach's opinion in relation to adequate funding for CAP. Minister, you quite rightly state that more and more onus is being put on farmers to do more and more with less and less. That is not acceptable. We are all very conscious of the huge income pressures on the farming community, regardless of what sector they are in. Minister, is there an urgency being attached to finalise the budget by the end of this year? I know that under Commissioner Hogan there was a contingency that it might be rolled over for a year or whatever if the multi-annual financial framework was not complete. What is the outlook at the present time in relation to the likely timescale for the completion of the MFF level of funding and similarly the budget for CAP as well? Are we likely to see those issues being prioritised and finalised in the early lifetime of the new Commission? Thank you. Minister. We are going to see a rollover of the existing CAP for a period of time, I believe for 12 months, and the necessary delegated acts to facilitate that, I raised with the Commission yesterday in a bilateral meeting. I would hope that that will happen quite shortly because in terms of preparing the systems within any department for paying, we need to make sure that we do that as quickly as possible. The Taoiseach and the Government's position on funding the European Union is very clear. The Taoiseach addressed the European Parliament and made very clear our willingness to pay more. But contingent on, we have been prepared to pay more to support projects that are really important to us, including the Common Agricultural Policy. So we have stated, and we make this commitment from the position of a net contributor and indeed being one of the highest per capita net contributors in the entire of the European Union. So it's not simply a case of, you know, calling for more money out, we're prepared, we put in more into the European Union than we get out, but we do get a lot of it out through the Common Agricultural Policy. I think the point that you make is one I would agree strongly with in terms of the ask for farmers to do more and more. It appears to me now that almost on a daily basis, in Ireland, everybody, almost everybody in the country, five million citizens are telling farmers what they should do and how they should do it and admonishing them if they're not doing it to the highest standard. And it's the same right across Europe, 450 million citizens seem to be telling farmers every day of the week what to do. We need to be careful not to have a kickback against that. Farmers are operating to very high standards by international and global comparison. And we need to make sure if we're asking them to do more, that we provide the necessary resources to them to help them to do more. Your Overtime Minister, please. The Minister, I think it's very important, and I accept your last comments, that the importance of the Common Agricultural Policy was established in 1962. Not alone, as I said earlier, does it support the farming community. It ensures that the citizens of Europe have access to a secure supply of safe food. And it supports 22 million farmers in the European Union. And it also supports 44 million people in the overall food industry. And I think the partnership that has existed between the Common Agricultural Policy and the European Society, it's very important to keep emphasising that to ensure that the importance of the CAP budget is prioritised at all times. Because it's not just a transfer of funding to the farming sector. It's ensuring that we have a vibrant rural community as well. And if some of the onus and some of the additional demands that people talk about that should be put on the farming community, not alone would we not have land being farmed, but we would have land being abandoned if we're not careful, and ensure that proper supports continue to be given directly to the farming community, and all of society benefits accordingly. Thank you. I agree entirely with your analysis. You know, the point is well made, it's not just about supporting farmers, it is the rural community as well. And, you know, across Pillar 1 and Pillar 2, I think the CAP has worked really well for us in terms of the supports that it gives. The challenge is not everybody shares that view, and the requirement for an EU budget, as you know, is unanimity. So convincing some of the other countries who have a differing view on how we fund Europe, how we fund new challenges in Europe, and certainly our view would be that it's not, it shouldn't be funded by raiding what is a successful common policy in agricultural area, to make up for what are obvious challenges in other areas that need to be addressed collectively, migration, security, and all those, I think they're readily recognised as important challenges that we need to face together. But that's not a reason to rob the budget of the common agricultural policy that works really well and delivers not just safe food, but also many other public goods that society is demanding in terms of biodiversity, water quality, etc. And I think farmers are not the problem here, they are the solution. And the policy needs to reflect that, because it is not inconceivable to make the point that we could, given the demographic challenge that agriculture faces, is, you know, meet a situation where, in a very short space of time, we could become, we could be outsourcing our food requirement and our food security would be compromised in that context, if we do not support agriculture in the way that it needs to be done. Thank you very much, Minister. Thank you very much. Thank you.
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