45% farmers to vote Yes for Nice
Some 27% intend to vote 'No' while 26% remain undecided, according to the Irish Farmers Journal telephone poll conducted by Response Interaction Centre.
The poll revealed that 26% of those intending to vote 'No,' believe the Treaty will have a negative effect on farming while a substantial 26% intend to avail of the opportunity to register a protest.
Fourteen per cent declared themselves to be against the expansion of the union and 12% are concerned that smaller states such as Ireland will be marginalised in the working out of the Treaty. Eight per cent are concerned about farming bureaucracy.
Twenty-eight per cent of 'Yes' voters regard enlargement as positive. Twenty per cent are convinced of the value of the EU for Ireland and 14% believe that it is time for Ireland to make a contribution to the EU. Eight per cent of the 'Yes' voters say that the Government recommending a 'Yes' vote influences them.
Of those undecided, 19% are concerned about the negative effect the treaty will have on farming.
Eighteen per cent attribute their indecision to a lack of information while 16% have reservations about enlargement.
Ninety-five percent of those polled indicated an intention to vote in the referendum. This was up 7% on a similar poll taken in August.
Meanwhile, Wladyslaw Piskorz, Minister Counsellor in the Polish mission to Brussels, yesterday called for a level playing pitch for Poland's 1.8 million farmers in the context of EU enlargement.
He told a seminar held by the Animal and Plant Health Association in Blessington, Co Wicklow, that a single market required no discrimination.
The current proposal that farmers in new member states will only receive direct payments in the first year of accession equal to 25% of what current EU farmers are receiving was questionable.
He said this proposal would lead to serious discrimination against farmers from new member states.
Mr Piskorz said his government is not satisfied with the proposed production quota based on the reference period when production was drastically and temporarily low.
He said compensatory mechanisms are required to address this potential distortion of competition.
Mr Piskorz urged the Irish people to support European Union enlargement.
