Smith says visit of agriculture commissioner vital to CAP talks

THE new European Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Dacian Ciolos will visit Ireland on July 12 and 13 at the invitation of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Minister Brendan Smith.

Mr Smith said the visit will take place immediately before an important European Union conference on the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2013 and will give Ireland the opportunity to present its position at this very important juncture.

He said he launched a public consultation on the CAP post-2013 last July, and invited written submissions to be made to the department. Sixty submissions have been received.

Mr Smith welcomed the recent announcement by Mr Ciolos of a process of public consultation about the future of the CAP and of European agriculture.

The consultation process will conclude with a conference in mid-July, after the commissioner’s visit to Ireland. Proposals for a revised CAP will be made by the European Commission after it has reviewed the public comments. The changes to the policy will take effect after the current programme of funding expires in 2013. Mr Smith urged all interested parties in Ireland to make an input to the commission’s consultation process. “We will be writing to those who made submissions to our national consultation to urge them to also participate in the commission exercise. It is very important that Ireland’s voice is heard clearly... in this process.

“The CAP is of vital importance to our agri-food sector, which is our largest indigenous industry, but it is also relevant to everyone in this country,” he said.

Mr Smith said he would invite Oireachtas members and stakeholders to contribute to the success of Mr Ciolos’s visit.

Meanwhile, the importance of securing a sustainable future for small family farms was stressed by leaders of Via Campesina, the international peasant movement, when they met with Mr Ciolos earlier this week. They also warned against a move towards a model of dual agriculture in which a large amount of small farmers retain a low income, whilst a small number of large farms account for most agricultural output and retain a higher income.

Mr Ciolos stressed in his opinion the diversity of the European farm sector is an advantage for the EU and the idea of a single model for its agriculture was off the table. “This European diversity could further blossom if nourished by a common policy tool such as the CAP,” he said.

However, Mr Ciolos said farms should be competitive in their given target market and stressed the need for extending the CAP post-2013 debate to all corners of society.