Farmers tell Government it’s time to use veto

IRELAND has never used the veto in its 35-year membership of the European Union.

But the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) says it is now time for the Government to signal to the European Commission that it is prepared to use that power to protect a vital national interest – the farming and agri-food sector.

It says that industry will be decimated if import tariff cuts, proposed by trade commissioner Peter Mandelson in the world trade talks, are imposed on beef, dairy and other products from non-EU countries in return for greater access to their markets for EU goods and services.

It claims there is a direct link between the trade talks in Geneva and the June 12 referendum to ratify the Lisbon treaty “which enshrines the treaty of Rome and the Common Agricultural Policy that Mandelson is willfully tearing up.”

The 85,000 member IFA says these cuts will result in the EU being flooded with imports, resulting in 50,000 food processing jobs being lost in 50 towns, 50,000 farmers losing their livelihoods and a €4 billion hit on the economy.

It all puts greater focus on how the country’s 130,000 farm families will vote and is absorbing the attention of the Government and the EU commission, which maintains the trade talks and Lisbon are separate issues.

Last month, 10,000 farmers and industry supporters took part in a protest staged in Dublin by the IFA, the ICMSA and Macra na Feirme, backed by the agri-business sector, as EU commission president Jose Manuel Barroso addressed the Forum on Europe.

“Sell us out and we’ll have our say on the 12th of June,” IFA president Padraig Walshe warned, adding that if the current proposals went ahead he would not ask farmers to support a commission that destroyed the future of farming and the food industry in Ireland.

While the Government described the proposed deal as “unbalanced and unacceptable” and pledged to stoutly defend Irish interests, it clearly is not pleased that the IFA linked Geneva with the Lisbon treaty.

Ministers point out that Ireland has received over 41bn in agricultural funding from the European Union from 1973 to 2006, and that it will receive about 12bn from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the period up to 2013.

They said the interests of agriculture, rural communities and the food sector will be very badly served if there is a no vote.

Ireland would simply lose political influence and allies when dealing with farming issues.

Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith said in a carefully crafted Dáil reply to Fine Gael’s Michael Creed that the veto is an option for Ireland. But the negotiations were progressing and there was no clarity as yet regarding either the eventual outcome or the timing of any deal.

“In those circumstances it is in my view premature to speak in terms of a veto at this point. There are many aspects of the negotiations still outstanding and we should not rush our fences on this. The important point is to continue to fight strongly for a balanced deal which does not sacrifice agriculture,” he said.

An opinion poll conducted by Red C for the Irish Farmers Journal earlier this month indicated that 40% of farmers were likely to vote yes, 33% likely to vote no and 27% ‘don’t know’. Significantly, 76% said they would take “guidance” from the IFA when making their final decisions.

The European Commission insists it is attentive to the farmers concerns.

With prospects of a deal this year now being put at 50-50, the Government has still not given a commitment to use the veto and the IFA remains just short of calling for a no vote.

Farmers are traditionally strong supporters of Europe, but on this occasion they are clearly defiant and attending IFA public meetings in their hundreds.

That defiance was reflected at the protest in Dublin, when a Clare man paraphrased a famous quotation of Patrick Hillery: “Ye can have Mandelson,” he said, “but ye can’t have Lisbon.”