Call for minister to reject leaked EU plan for flat rate payments model

IFA president John Bryan has called on Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to reject the flat rate direct payments model proposed in a leaked EU draft document.

Already in wide circulation in Ireland, the document cites January 1, 2019, as the date when the new flat rate ‘per hectare’ payment system would replace the current ‘historical’ model.

This likely change in the Common Agriculture Policy, expected to be agreed in 2013, was already predicted by EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos on a visit to Dublin last October.