Dillon elected COPA vice president
Mr Dillon, who is in his second year as leader of the 85,000-member IFA, becomes one of four vice-presidents of the influential European Union farm body.
COPA is made up of 29 organisations from the 15 EU members.
This broad membership allows it to represent both the general and specific interests of farmers in the member States. Since its inception, it has been recognised by the Community authorities as the spokesman for the agricultural sector as a whole.
Agriculture and Food Minister Joe Walsh congratulated Mr Dillon and said it was an honour for the Limerick man to be elected to this post, which he will hold for two years.
Mr Walsh said Mr Dillon was the first Irish farming representative to be elected COPA vice-president since the late TJ Maher and he wished him well in the post.
John Dillon, who has been IFA deputy president (1998-2001) and Munster vice president (1994-1998), said the
COPA position was a platform to influence the mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy and the European Commission in the WTO negotiations.
COPA’s new president Peter Gaemelke, Denmark, warned after his election that the EU must not be pushed by external pressures into a hurried compromise on CAP reform.
